Two eyewitnesses who appeared before DC Superior Court Judge Danya Dayson on Nov. 6 were challenged repeatedly during their testimonies regarding the events leading up to a fatal shooting.
David Pena, 48, is charged with second-degree murder while armed, possession of a firearm during a crime of violence or dangerous offense, assault with a dangerous weapon, and unlawful possession of a firearm with a prior conviction, for his alleged involvement in the fatal shooting of Maurice Robinson, 24. The incident occurred on June 12, 2023, on the 3000 block of 30th Street, SE.
The defendant’s daughter took the stand and explained her side of the story about the fight that occurred before the shooting. She explained that the mother of her best friend had been goading her over texting in the hours before the fight, complaining about the girls verbally fighting and making rude commentary about the witness’ infant son.
As a new mother at the time, the witness grew defensive in the light of the comments, which included an accusation that the infant had Down syndrome. The witness denied that when asked by the prosecution.
The contents of the text messages required the use of the grand jury transcript, as the witness said she could no longer remember exactly what most of the messages said.
After the text messages became intense, the witness testified, she blocked her friend’s mother. Shortly after, a group of people gathered outside of the witness’ home and called for her to come outside and fight.
The witness went outside with the intention of fighting and settling whatever it was between herself and her friend, and then moving on. She later said that she wished she hadn’t.
The fight itself was brief, the witness said. It started on the sidewalk outside of the witness’ house, until she fell and was dragged into the street. Mace was sprayed into her eyes when she fell and she could not see who was attacking her.
The witness’ stepfather got on top of the witness to cover her from the assault from the group of people. At the beginning of the fight, she had heard him say “Nobody jumping in” as he got out of his car.
At one point while she was on the ground, she was aware of a man trying to stomp on her head and her erstwhile friend pulling her hair, but her stepfather was able to intercept the kicks.
She heard a gunshot, which stopped the fight. She was quick to get herself and her sisters into the house and tried to get the Mace out of her eyes.
Under cross examination, she clarified that she had not personally seen the shooting and did not know who had been shot or who had shot. She had initially assumed that the people who had come with her friend’s family had shot until she learned later that Robinson had been shot through Instagram.
Defense attorney Dana Page asked the witness about a prior incident involving Robinson, where she had gotten into a physical fight with one of his family members, had been Maced by his mother, and Robinson had chased her. A dark object had been visible in his waistband, and the witness explained she believed it was a gun.
The prosecution asked further questions and the witness explained that it was dark when that incident had occurred, sometime in the fall of 2020. She had not called the police for this incident.
However, she was questioned multiple times about the accuracy of her statements. Using the transcript of her grand jury testimony and her interview with police, the prosecution had to remind her of statements previously made under oath when she did not accurately recall them while testifying.
In court, the witness had claimed she did not know of any disagreements between herself and her friend. However, in the grand jury, she testified that there had been a disagreement regarding a message the friend had received from the father of the witness’ baby. The message had been sent in April, but the witness had only found out about it in June, and her friend had not been willing to explain what was in the message.
The transcript of her interview with detectives gave a clearer insight to the nature of her relationship with her biological father, Pena. She testified in court that they were “tight” and had become closer than they were. In her interview with police, she had said that she was closer to her stepfather than she was to Pena, and that “my real dad is only my father.” When police asked what she knew specifically about her biological father, she had answered, “to be honest with you, nothing.”
The mother of the previous witness and Pena’s ex-wife testified as an eyewitness to the fight. She had been sitting in the car with her husband, who is her daughter’s stepfather, when the fight began. She saw Pena’s other children come out of the house and also saw her daughter come out, but she does not remember if her daughter came out before or after the other children.
She was challenged with her grand jury transcript, where she had stated that her daughter came out first, followed by her four siblings: two of them the witness’ daughter with Pena, and the other two were Pena’s children with another woman.
The witness stated that she saw part of the fight from the passenger window of the car. It started on the sidewalk and moved into the street. She lost sight of the fight as it moved to the driver’s side of the car. She also testified that at one point she put her head down in fear and did not see a portion of the fight for this reason.
Her husband got out of the car to cover her daughter while the group of people was kicking her in the street. Toward the end of the fight, the witness said she heard yelling and raised voices, but “that’s about it.” She did not mention a gunshot, though the prosecution will continue with this line of questioning when the trial continues.
The mother’s recollection of the fight differed slightly from her daughter’s. While the daughter was very clear she had heard her stepfather say “Nobody jumping in” during the fight, the mother recalls her daughter saying “I don’t want nobody jumping me” and that her stepfather did not say anything.
Similarly to her daughter, the witness was contradicted a number of times. Her testimony changed regarding who she saw in the windows of one of the apartments in their building, as she had originally testified she saw two of Pena’s daughters and now believed she had seen one of the sons, whose name she could not recall.
Parties are slated to reconvene Nov. 10.
