DC Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman delayed ruling on a key motion regarding social media evidence linked to a homicide defendant in a hearing on Aug. 13.
Michael Mason, 21, is charged with conspiracy, two counts of first-degree murder while armed, three counts of assault with intent to kill while armed, two counts of assault with intent to murder while armed, seven counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, and seven counts of criminal street gang affiliation while committing a felony or violent misdemeanor.
The charges stem from his alleged involvement in three separate incidents. The connection with the death of 21-year-old Brea Moon and injury of a second victim. Moon was shot and killed on the 3900 block of Alabama Avenue, SE, on April 7, 2020. A shooting that injured two on April 8, 2020 on the 300 block of Anacostia Road, SE. Additionally, the death of 18-year-old Antwuan Roach on May 22, 2020 on the 3800 block of East Capitol Street, NE.
According to court documents, prosecutors allege Mason is part of the “Avenue Crew of Simple City” and conspired with others to assault and kill the crew’s adversaries.
Alongside Mason are co-defendants Nkobia Edwards, 22, Charles Hill Jr, 24, Dominique Franks, 24, Melvin Morris, 27, and Dajuan Jones, 24 who are also all charged with criminal street gang affiliation and conspiracy while armed relating to several non-fatal shootings and homicides taking place from January 2020 to June 2021.
During the hearing, Judge Edelman heard arguments from Mason’s attorneys, Andrew Ain and Bernadette Armand, on motions to suppress Instagram evidence. Judge Edelman summarized Ain’s argument that the prosecution improperly seized the Instagram evidence not specified in the warrants. Ain and Armand argued the prosecution not only went beyond the scope of the warrant, tje shared the material with the co-defendants violating Mason’s privacy.
The prosecution explained the evidence they received from Meta, the technology company that owns Instagram, was a huge document with thousands pages of messages, videos, and images. They stated that the evidence was a random mix of data interposed with messages that required them to sort through the pages and find the relevant evidence.
In response, Ain stated that although the prosecution only planned to use evidence that was within the warrants, the fact they looked at the other information could lead them to investigate other issues and collect further evidence. In addition, Ain mentioned the prosecution’s lack of documentation on how they seized the evidence and decided what was relevant or not. He argued that there needs to be sufficient documentation in order to determine whether the bounds of the warrant were respected. Moreover, Ain stated that there were other more reasonable ways to search for relevant evidence like AI instead of manually searching, which the prosecution claimed as the only realistic way.
Ain also argued that by suppressing all the Instagram evidence it would deter the government from practices of using broad warrants to collect a traunch of evidence and then choosing what they deem relevant.
Judge Edelman told the prosecution to draft a brief how they seized and sorted the Instagram evidence before he could rule on the motion.
Judge Edelman told the prosecution Mason was charged with conspiracy when he was 15 which beyond the age range of the court’s jurisdiction. The prosecution stated that they will respond in writing by next week.
Parties are slated to reconvene on Aug. 25.
