A homicide defendant chose to testify on his own trial before DC Superior Court Judge Neal Kravitz on April 1.
Jaime Macedo, 24, is charged with first-degree felony murder while armed, two counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, attempt to commit robbery while armed, and unlawful possession of a firearm with a prior conviction. These charges stem from his alleged involvement in the fatal shooting of 25-year-old Maxwell Emerson on July 5, 2023 on the 600 block of Alumni Lane, NE. Emerson sustained one gunshot wound to the abdomen.
Judge Kravitz allowed the defense to make a supplemental opening statement. Although parties are typically only allowed one such statement, the prosecution provided Macedo’s attorneys with new surveillance footage on March 27. Since the defense didn’t have this evidence earlier, Judge Kravitz allowed them to present the video to the jury and argue how it supports Macedo.
Macedo’s attorney, Rachel Cicurel, played the surveillance footage of Macedo and Emerson walking alongside each other outside a Starbucks. The two appeared to be talking and relaxed.
“Common sense will show you that this is not a robbery,” Cicurel said.
Macedo’s other attorney, Jessica Willis, called her client to the stand. She began by asking Macedo about his family life, where the jury learned that his father was deported to Mexico when he was in elementary school and that he has two young children.
Macedo said that the morning of the incident, he brought marijuana, two cell phones, and a gun tucked into his compression shorts underneath his jeans. According to Macedo, he brought the gun for protection since he grew up in a rough neighborhood along with the other items to potentially sell marijuana to clients.
“Hey man, I got kids. Can you help me out?” Macedo testified, recalling what he said to Emerson as he was exiting the Brooklyn-CUA Metro station. Macedo said Emerson took out his wallet to prove that there was no cash, then handed Macedo his AirPods. Macedo said that he felt shocked and surprised.
A few seconds later, Macedo said that he called Emerson over to return his AirPods. The two began walking in step together. Macedo started “venting to him” about his troubles financially supporting his children, recently losing his job, and wanting to further his education.
Macedo said he suggested that they find an ATM so that Emerson could give him cash. They began walking toward an ATM that Macedo found on his phone’s GPS. When they arrived, however, there was no ATM.
Macedo testified that Emerson offered to send him money through Cash App. Macedo led the way toward a bench area across the street, where Emerson sat down and Macedo remained standing in front of him. Macedo told Emerson that he has tried to use Cash App before, but he usually had technical difficulties but Emerson wanted to try anyway.
After about 10 minutes, Emerson told Macedo that he had sent him money. Macedo said that his account didn’t appear to have received it. At this point, Macedo said the disagreement changed their cool, relaxed tone.
Macedo said he touched Emerson’s phone in an attempt to see if he truly sent the money. Emerson immediately tackled him to the ground. Macedo said that he was not able to get Emerson off of him, as his head was in between Macedo’s legs, pinning him down. They were wrestling each other until Macedo said he heard the gun tucked in his jeans go off.
“How did this shit just happen?” Macedo said, describing his initial thoughts after Emerson was shot. Macedo said that his hands were nowhere near the gun while they were on the ground and that the gun did not have a safety feature. Macedo said he got up and ran out of panic and shock until he could not run anymore.
Macedo said that his jeans had a hole in the left thigh area, where his gun was concealed. He took off his pants and threw them into the flatbed of a truck to avoid being identified by a police officer and walked home.
“I told them I would never leave them again,” Macedo said, visibly emotional. Macedo thought about a prior promise he made to his children on his way home.
After arriving, Macedo said that he removed his clothes and the shell casings from the gun fell to the floor. There was a hole in his boxers and compression shorts. He flushed the casings down the toilet and put his clothes into a plastic bag.
Macedo checked his Cash App account and said there was 300 dollars at the bottom of his screen, which he cashed. “I have no excuse,” Macedo said, explaining why he did so. “I was freaking out.”
Willis asked Macedo if he ever tried to rob, threaten, or shoot Emerson. Macedo said that he did not.
Macedo opened Instagram a few hours later and saw a post about a homicide near The Catholic University of America that morning. He said that he threw up immediately.
On cross-examination, the prosecution demonstrated, through videos, that prior to the shooting, Emerson’s hands were clearly in the air. In addition, Macedo admitted that immediately following the shooting, he ran away. He also admitted to changing clothes after the incident, “so someone wouldn’t identify me.”
On redirect, Cicurel asked Macedo why he thought Emerson’s hands were up and Macedo inferred it was because he was “coming on too strong” when venting to Emerson about his problems in the conversation prior to the shooting.
The defense also called an investigative specialist from the DC Public Defender Service (PDS) who performed a crime scene visit with the defense where he took a number of photographs. The defense pointed out that there were many emergency poles that, when a button was pressed, would have contacted emergency services to demonstrate that Emerson had the option to press one if he felt in danger.
On cross-examination, the investigator admitted that he did not check the emergency buttons to see if they were functioning and that those pictures were taken at the time of the investigation in March 2026, not at the time of the shooting.
Cicurel, however, clarified that the investigator looked on Google Maps from December 2022 and observed that the emergency poles and buttons were present at that time.
The parties are scheduled to reconvene on April 2.
