A key witness in a murder retrial undercuts her own previous testimony

By D.C. Witness Staff - March 3, 2018
Court | Homicides | Suspects |

As the prosecution questioned the ex-girlfriend of Derryck Decuir, who is currently being retried for allegedly fatally shooting 15-year-old Malek Mercer on the night of June 15, 2015, she changed her responses from the testimony she gave at the first trial.

The ex-girlfriend,was called to decode phrases such as “jerseys” for guns and “toenail shells” for bullets, that Decuir used in text messages. Prosecutors say Decuir used those phrases in an effort to get a third person to remove illegal guns, possibly including the murder weapon, from Decuir’s stepmother’s home.

When asked about her change in testimony, the ex-girlfriend admitted that she was only testifying because the prosecution subpoenaed her. She was also overheard telling Decuir, the father of her daughter, that that she was still in love with him. The girlfriend also blew kisses to Decuir while she was on the stand.

In addition to Decuir’s ex-girlfriend, the prosecution called Waverly Schuler, the person who received the coded messages and was both Decuir’s friend and neighbor.

Schuler told the jury that he moved the guns from Decuir’s stepmother’s house and put them in the woods in front of Decuir’s house. Schuler is currently serving a 30-month sentence in D.C. Jail for an unrelated assault with a deadly weapon conviction. He was also convicted of conspiracy to obstruct justice in the Mercer homicide, but has yet to be sentenced. He said he agreed to testify before the jury to hopefully get a lighter sentence from the judge for that charge.

The prosecution also called a woman who was among those with Mercer the night he was killed. The defense has claimed that Decuir shot Mercer in self-defense because Mercer had a shotgun. This witness recalled seeing Mercer put a shotgun with duct tape around it in a duffle bag. She is the only person, of six people to remember seeing Mercer with a shotgun.