A defense attorney argued that a key witness for a 2009 homicide lied about a defendant’s involvement to help himself in a trial before DC Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman on May 27.
Randolph Thomas, 43, is charged with felony murder while armed, assault with intent to kill while armed, assault with a dangerous weapon, first-degree burglary while armed, robbery while armed, and five counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence for his alleged involvement in the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Emmanuel Durant on Dec. 31, 2009 on the 200 block of Webster Street, NE. Durant died from a single gunshot wound to his body that struck a blood vessel.
According to Thomas’ arrest warrant, police charged him with Durant’s murder after he pleaded guilty to the fatal shooting of Chardale Bowe on Dec. 31, 2009 on the 4800 block of North Capitol Street, NE. A ballistic comparison reportedly concluded the same firearm was used in both murders.
In opening statements, the prosecutor said sometimes “a random and innocent decision…can lead to irreversible consequences.” For Durant, the prosecutor said, his brother left to get snacks, and 20 minutes later he bled out in an alley.
The prosecutor elaborated that Durant’s brother left their home for a snack run, returned, and was barely inside before he realized he left the snacks in the car. When he returned to his car, two masked gunmen approached Durant’s brother and took all his belongings. The gunmen were “not satisfied,” said the prosecutor, and forced Durant’s brother into his home.
The gunmen forced Durant’s brother into the basement, his girlfriend heard the voices, went downstairs, and was “met with a gun pointed to her face,” said the prosecutor. Durant then entered the basement and started a struggle with one of the gunmen, who prosecutors allege was Thomas, before the gun fired and struck Durant.
The prosecutor told jurors it didn’t matter whether the gun fired accidentally or intentionally for a homicide conviction. As the gunmen exited, the prosecutor alleged Thomas fired a shot towards Durant’s brother’s head, but missed. The gunmen ran outside and fled the area.
According to the prosecutor, Durant ran up the stairs and told his sister “get the kids, get out of the house.” Durant then left a trail of blood, said the prosecutor, until he collapsed behind the 200 block of Hawaii Avenue, NE. First-responding officers found Durant “unresponsive, unconscious, bleeding out in the alley,” the prosecutor elaborated.
Jurors will hear testimony from the individuals at the residence, but the prosecutor acknowledged they are not perfect. “These people have imperfections,” but they have “to bare their souls in a public courtroom,” said the prosecutor.
The prosecutor said parties agreed that Thomas possessed the murder weapon less than a day later, around 11:30 p. m. on Dec. 31, 2009, on the 4800 block of North Capitol Street, NE.
In addition, the prosecutor said two witnesses will testify that they observed Thomas with the murder weapon before and after Durant’s murder. According to the prosecutor, one of those witnesses will testify that 10-to-11 hours after Durant’s homicide, Thomas reportedly admitted to shooting Durant and his brother, because Thomas believed the second shot killed Durant’s brother.
The prosecutor said “We don’t expect you to like [the key witness]” but asked the jury to trust his testimony and find Thomas guilty.
Thomas’ attorney, Kevin Steward, said Durant’s murder was a tragedy but his client was “charged with a crime he did not commit.” Steward agreed that Thomas possessed the gun the next day, but not when Durant was killed. Instead, Steward said Thomas took the gun from someone else “leaving him carrying the consequences of someone else’s actions,” because people frequently passed around guns in Thomas’s neighborhood.
Steward said prosecutors’ case is based on “the word of one man, a convicted murderer, who ran out of options.” The key witness had “nothing to lose, everything to gain,” and would say and do anything, claimed Steward and alleged the prosecutors also would do anything in pursuit of a conviction.
According to Steward, a jury convicted the key witness of first-degree murder, he faced up to 60 years in prison, and needed a way out. Steward said the witness told prosecutors he had useful information and at sentencing, the prosecution requested the witness serve 20 years in prison for second-degree murder, which the judge granted.
After his sentencing the key witness was not satisfied, argued Steward, and then he told prosecutors a fabricated story about Durant’s murder, a highly publicized case. The key witness received a “get out of jail free card, courtesy of the United States Attorney’s Office,” concluded Steward.
The key witness can’t be trusted and he will “lie directly to your face,” Steward told jurors and asked them to “pay close attention” to the information the witness claims to know because in his “web of lies,” there’s a truth he doesn’t want prosecutors to know.
Steward also argued the case has no hard evidence, nothing independent, reliable or objective. The shooters ransacked the residence and police collected DNA fingerprints, noted Steward, but Thomas’ DNA is not connected to the scene and a set of fingerprints remain unidentified.
“Thomas is not the man [the witnesses] saw that night,” asserted Steward and asked the jurors to find him not guilty.
The parties are scheduled to reconvene on May 28.
