‘I Have No Recollection’ of Murder, Witness Says

By D.C. Witness Staff - April 4, 2019
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Suspects |

During a murder trial, a witness told the jury that he had no memory of seeing the defendant near a crime scene. However, the prosecution says the witness told a grand jury the opposite.

Devaun Drayton

Terik McLeod is charged with two counts of first-degree murder while armed for his alleged role in the deaths of 17-year-old Devaun Drayton and 23-year-old Carlton Fisher in 2004 and 2006, respectively. According to the prosecution’s theory, McLeod shot and killed Drayton over a missing gun. The prosecution said McLeod killed Fisher, who knew he killed Drayton, because he was a “snitch.”

Carlton Fisher

“I have no recollection from then, the witness told the jury on April 3. “I can’t tell you nothing. I’m sorry.”

The witness also said that he didn’t know who McLeod, 33, or Fisher was.

Meanwhile, the prosecution presented the witness with grand jury testimony in which he said he was present in a courtyard near the 1100 block of 21st Street, NE, where Fisher was killed.

The witness also told the grand jury that he saw McLeod and another individual prior to the shooting near the courtyard. Apparently, the witness asked the men for marijuana but was brushed off. 

During cross examination, defense attorney Michael Madden asked the witness if he was playing games or if he truly didn’t remember. The witness said he wasn’t and that his use of PCP as well as trauma may have affected his memory. Apparently, the witness was shot five times.

“I don’t even know who shot me, let alone who shot someone else,” the witness said.

The witness told Madden he wasn’t high on PCP during the grand jury hearing.

Fisher’s girlfriend also took the stand. She told the jury that she was in Fisher’s mother’s apartment when she heard multiple gunshots. She said it sounded like it came from two different guns and that a neighbor came by the apartment to tell them Fisher was shot.

When asked if she knew anything about Fisher “snitching” on McLeod, the girlfriend said that when she visited Fisher in jail she noticed he had a scratch between is eyebrows. Apparently, Fisher got into a fight with another inmate, who said Fisher was a snitch.

The defense also asked her about why she never mentioned “snitching” during her grand jury testimony in 2007. The girlfriend said she was “scared.”

The girlfriend told Madden that she heard rumors about who killed Fisher. She also said she spoke with detectives twice before her 2017 grand jury testimony, which included information about McLeod and “snitching.”

The girlfriend’s testimony is scheduled to continue on April 4.