Parties delivered opening statements and two carjacking victims testified before a jury in DC Superior Court Judge Michael Ryan’s courtroom on Dec. 16.
Jerrell Smith, 33, is charged with armed carjacking, assault with a dangerous weapon, threaten to injure or kidnap a person, and carrying a dangerous weapon, for his alleged involvement in a carjacking on June 7, 2023 at the intersection of South Capitol Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, SE. One individual sustained injuries during the incident.
In their opening statements, prosecutors claimed that Smith, who was allegedly armed with a knife, carjacked his cousin and her boyfriend while riding in the car.
According to the prosecution, the cousin’s boyfriend was driving the group to pick someone up, when they arrived at the intersection where the incident occurred. Smith, who they claimed was in the back seat of the car, allegedly put a knife to the victim’s neck, cutting his finger, and carjacked the vehicle. The prosecution insisted once he was able to get his cousin’s boyfriend out of the driver’s seat and the cousin had gotten out of the passenger seat, Smith climbed over the center console, got in the driver’s seat and left the scene with his cousin’s vehicle.
“There were no arguments. Nothing’s happening,” the prosecutor said, stating the victims would testify that there were no disagreements between the group leading up to the carjacking.
However, Emma Mlyennic, Smith’s attorney, disagreed. “What do you do when you find yourself in the middle of an aggressive argument that you’re not part of? You get away from it,” Mlyennic said, stating that’s what Smith did.
Mlyennic argued that the complainants were the passengers of the vehicle which Smith was driving, and got into an argument that spilled into the street when they reached the incident location. “He drove off to get out of it,” Mlyennic said.
“Jerrell Smith is not guilty,” Mlyennic insisted, stating that he pulled over when they were arguing, asked her cousin to get back in the car, and when she refused he drove off.
According to Mlyennic, the complainants were upset that he left them stranded, and gave the police a story that blamed Smith. Mlyennic argued the cousin’s boyfriend was on probation in Maryland at the time of the incident, and wanted to avoid getting in trouble, which would violate his conditions.
“An innocent man is on trial for a crime he did not commit,” Mlyennic insisted. She argued that Smith had ample opportunities throughout the day to carjack his cousin, who he previously reached out for a place to stay, but didn’t do it.
Mlyennic stated Smith did not try to abandon or sell the car, and instead parked at a shopping center near a police station.
“Why on earth would you drive yourself to a police station if you committed an armed carjacking?” Mlyennic said.
“The story the complainants are giving you is not true,” she insisted.
Prosecutors called on Smith’s cousin, who claimed she was riding in the passenger seat when the incident occurred.
According to Smith’s cousin, Smith called her earlier in the day to ask for a place to stay, and she agreed to let him stay at her apartment. She picked him up from Southern Avenue Metro Station in the early afternoon and had him hang out with her and her boyfriend until she had to go to work.
After work, she agreed to pick him up from an undisclosed location and drove home. Her boyfriend’s sister asked them to pick her up, and they asked Smith if he wanted to join.
On their drive to get her boyfriend’s sister, the cousin stated, the three were listening to music and just riding along. At the intersection, she testified, Smith tried to slice or stab her boyfriend from the back seat. “He had a blade towards his neck,” she recalled.
She testified she panicked, and ordered Smith to stop, before jumping out of the passenger seat. She testified that the car started to go backwards down a hill and knocked her over. Once she got up, she saw her boyfriend running down the street and Smith in the driver’s seat.
She stated she had her best friend track her vehicle, which was located at the Eastover Shopping Center in Oxon Hill, MD, and did not call 911 until a while later.
“My first thing was to get off the street,” when questioned why she hadn’t immediately called 911.
Likewise, Smith’s cousin’s then-boyfriend was called to testify. He stated he had met Smith once before the day of the incident, and had never had any problems with him.
According to the witness, they hung out together and watched TV while his girlfriend was working. Once she returned from work, with Smith, they agreed to go pick his friend’s sister up — which is conflicting with his then-girlfriend’s testimony.
Smith decided to ride along with them, according to the witness, and everything was fine until they reached the intersection where the incident occurred.
According to the witness, he felt a hand pull his forehead back into the driver’s seat’s head rest, and a knife to his neck. In an attempt to prevent an injury to the throat, the witness testified he put his hand between his neck and the knife, causing a laceration to his middle finger that needed six stitches.
He stated that he and the defendant ensued in a struggle, during which he was dragged from the driver’s seat to the back of the car. He claimed he exited the vehicle through the back passenger door, and saw the car drive away as he ran away from the scene.
He testified he didn’t call 911 because he didn’t have his phone.
Hannah Claudio, Smith’s other attorney, questioned the witness’ credibility, stating that he switched the story up to benefit himself in order to not get in trouble with his probation in Maryland.
Claudio questioned his statement to his probation officer, which noted he told her a stranger approached the car with a knife and carjacked him. “I definitely didn’t tell her that,” the witness insisted.
Claudio also highlighted that the witness had been arrested by US Marshals on Dec. 13, and a DC Judge told him if he didn’t show up to testify in trial he would be arrested.
In redirect, the witness assured prosecutors his testimony was truthful.
Parties are slated to reconvene on Dec. 17.
