Judge Grants Motion to Compel Documents from Department of Forensic Sciences

By D.C. Witness Staff - November 10, 2020
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

On Nov. 10, a DC Superior Court judge granted, in part, a motion to require the Department of Forensic Sciences (DFS) to produce certain documents related to a double murder case. 

Ron McLeoud is charged with first-degree murder while armed in the deaths of Amari Jenkins, who was found dead on Aug. 15, 2015, on the 4900 block of East Capitol Street, SE and Antwan Baker, who was found dead on the 5300 block of Clay Terrace, NE, on Nov. 12, 2015. 

The 27-year-old defendant is also charged with conspiracy, possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, assault with intent to kill while armed and aggravated assault knowingly while armed.    

D.C. Witness previously reported that the DFS made an erroneous determination about ballistic evidence, which caused incorrect information to be presented to a grand jury. 

“It really comes down to not if the information presented to the grand jury was incorrect but at what point that falsity was known or should’ve been known to the government,” Judge Todd Edelman explained during an Aug. 21 hearing on the matter. 

The prosecutor is seeking answers on how this mistake happened. He made a discovery request on June 12, which the DFS refused.

Judge Edelman reviewed 53 pages that were held or redacted from the DFS regarding the forensic evidence. 

“DFS was not focused on corrective action,” he said. “In many of the documents, DFS employees were proceeding with case work, reexamining what has already been done.”

On May 1, defense attorney Steven Kiersch filed a motion to dismiss his client’s indictments based on the introduction of false testimony in the grand jury and, alternatively, to require the prosecution to give the defense counsel the entirety of the grand jury minutes.

“Mr. Kiersh is making the argument that DFS engaged in a conspiracy that frames his client for murder,” the prosecutor said. “We are trying to lay a solid evidentiary foundation to argue against these far fetched claims.”

Judge Edelman said that the next step is to have an evidentiary hearing as part of the defense’s motion to dismiss the case.

“I need to see these documents before we can revisit the issue about what we need to do to go forward,” said Kiersh.

The next court date for this case will be selected through court chambers. 

McLeoud and 26year-old Joseph Brown were indicted as co-defendants at one point, but their cases have since been severed. At one point, the two homicide scenes were determined to be linked by ballistic evidence. That evidence was later discovered to be erroneous, but not until after incorrect firearms testimony was presented to a grand jury.