The primary medical examiner in a triple-homicide said she didn’t prepare testimony in the case because medical problems interfered with her right state of mind in a trial before DC Superior Court Judge Neal Kravitz on June 3.
Jalonte Thompkins, 34, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder while armed, three counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, and unlawful possession of a firearm with a prior conviction greater than a year for his alleged involvement in the fatal shooting of three brothers, 34-year-old James Morgan, 30-year-old Jamal Morgan, and 42-year-old Vincent Martin on Aug. 5, 2023 on the 2500 block of Ontario Road, NW.
Judge Kravitz considered issuing a bench warrant on June 1 after the medical examiner failed to appear. According to court records, He ordered a subpoena to force the examiner’s testimony.
At the hearing, the examiner said she had a “difficult time processing” questions about Jamal and James’ autopsies.
The examiner failed to answer many of both parties questions, repeatedly stating that severe pain, dizziness, fatigue, and prescription pain-relievers left her cognitively impaired.
She told the prosecution she could not say with certainty that she was not on prescription medication when she authored the autopsy reports. Later, the examiner clarified that she was capable of performing her job when she signed two reports.
The examiner also confirmed her report stating that the right to left direction of the bullet wounded Jamal.
In cross examination, the medical examiner confirmed with Thompkins’ attorney, Brandi Harden, that it is likely that an individual holding a gun with both arms straight out at shoulder level would expose the abdomen to possible gunshots and the person would likely react by turning around if they were shot.
In other testimony, prosecutors called a Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) detective who laid out the location of CCTV camera footage near the Ontario Road crime scene. The detective identified a man he allegedly recognized as Renza Bryant.
Bryant, 30, was charged with three counts of first-degree murder while armed for his alleged involvement in the same incident. However, DC Superior Court Judge Robert Okun didn’t find probable cause against Bryant and dismissed his case on Jan. 16, 2024.
Without the jury, Harden questioned the legality of the detective identifying Bryant on CCTV footage. She argued that the poor video quality of the video made that impossible.
The prosecutor argued that the detective could identify Bryant because they had met at least five times before.
Judge Kravitz found that because the detective had previously met Bryant and because the suspect’s face was “partially obscured” by his hat, the detective’s testimony was permissible under Sanders, Brooks, and Robinson v. United States. That case permits a lay witness to identify a person in CCTV footage, if the witness is visually familiar with the individual depicted.
Prosecutors also called an individual whose apartment overlooked Euclid Street, NW near the crime scene. In direct examination by prosecutors she said she was sleeping in her room when she awoke to someone saying, “He right there, he right there” and heard shooting.
However, the eyewitness had difficulty recalling some details of the event, and admitted that she only looked out the corner of her window for two seconds at the shooter before returning to bed.
The prosecutor referred several times to her grand jury testimony to refresh her memory in which she identified the shooter as an African American man. The eyewitness repeatedly told prosecutors she was unsure of what she saw and heard nearly three years ago.
During cross-examination, Harden reiterated that the eyewitness had difficulty recalling the event without the aid of her grand jury testimony and that the prosecutors may have guided her responses during testimony.
The parties are scheduled to reconvene on June 4.
