A Metropolitan Police department (MPD) Detective continued to testify on Aug. 12 before DC Superior Court Judge Neal Kravitz after questions were raised about whether GPS evidence gathered against two shooting co-defendants was obtained legally.
Daquawn Lubin, 30, and Jonathan Young, 35, are charged with conspiracy while armed, two counts of assault with intent to kill while armed, assault with significant bodily injury while armed, aggravated assault knowingly while armed, four counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence while armed, carrying a pistol without a license outside a home or business, and unlawful possession of a firearm with a prior crime of violence.
Lubin is additionally charged with possession of a prohibited weapon. These counts stem from their alleged involvement in a non-fatal shooting that injured two individuals on the 4600 block of Benning Road, SE, on July 24, 2023.
Judge Kravitz granted Lubin and Young’s motion for severance on Aug. 7 and Young was not present during the hearing.
Initially, the question was whether the GPS information could be taken without a timely warrant. While the judge said that wasn’t legal, the prosecution said they would seek a warrant that would remedy the problem. The judge said he would take the matter under submission.
Lubin’s attorney, Kevin O’Sullivan, questioned a Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) about why the search warrant for Lubin’s cellphone was issued over a month after the phone was originally seized during his arrest. The detective responded that a different detective took care of the search warrant due to his being on vacation.
O’Sullivan also questioned the detective regarding his previous testimony when he said Lubin’s car traveled to Maryland after the shooting and stayed there the rest of the night. O’Sullivan said that’s inaccurate and GPS data showed the car did not stay in Maryland the entire night.
The detective defended his statement and said that the GPS data he received showed the car in Maryland all night until the early hours of the next morning. The detective noted he received the GPS data from the Pohanka Hyundai dealership, where Lubin rented the car that prosecutors allege he used during the incident.
O’Sullivan used Logitrac’s GPS data, a software company in Texas, while the detective’s GPS data was from the Hyundai dealer. The detective said he was not aware of inconsistencies between the two sets of data.
O’Sullivan also questioned the detective about holding Lubin in the interrogation room. He displayed video evidence of Lubin and the detective in the room and noted that the detective left the room for ten minutes and when he returned he arrested Lubin. O’Sullivan argued that the detective was reviewing the evidence to find probable cause to arrest Lubin.
The detective asserted that he already had probable cause and could not recall what he was doing during the ten minutes prior to Lubin’s arrest.
Additionally, the prosecution showed the court video footage from several locations that they allege confirms the suspects descriptions and involvement in the shooting.
The detective noted specific details of the suspect that prosecutors claim is Lubin that are consistent in different videos, including that he wore a blue shirt and matching hat, gray New Balance sneakers, a brown belt, and white markings above his knees that indicate tears in the jeans. The detective also reviewed video footage that showed an individual wearing the same clothes in the front passenger seat of a red Hyundai involved in the incident, tying it to Lubin.
Lubin was said to be renting the red Hyundai at the time of the incident, per the rental agreement provided by Hyundai and prosecution argued video footage from several locations indicate he was the driver of the vehicle. The vehicle is allegedly seen at the location of the shooting before the incident occurred.
O’Sullivan also called an investigative intern from the Public Defender Service (PDS) who worked on plotting the GPS data from the car to the stand. The intern confirmed that based on the data plotted from 11:36 p. m. to 2:30 a. m., Lubin departed Maryland to go to DC and remained around the area until 2:30 a.m. The PDS intern debunked as inaccurate the claim that the Huyndai stayed in Maryland all night.
The prosecution questioned the PDS intern about specific data points, including that the car moved in the direction of the incident address that night around the time of the shooting.
The parties are slated to reconvene on Aug. 25 to continue discussing motions.
