Thank you for reading D.C. Witness.
Help us continue our mission into 2025 by donating to our end of year campaign.
By
D.C. Witness Staff
- May 18, 2018
Court
|
Homicides
|
Suspects
|
Defense attorneys recently clashed with prosecutors over whether D.C. Superior Court Judge Danya Dayson ought to delay a murder trial to give the prosecution more time to figure out the passcode of the victim’s iPhone.
Burroughs, 24, is accused of shooting Jarell Walker three times on June 2, 2016, on the 3700 block of Hayes Street, NE.
“We’re not talking about a situation where this will be dealt with during trial,” one prosecutor said. “We’re talking about a situation where this will be dealt with after the trial… (so) we are asking for a very short continuance.”
The prosecution said they requested a continuance to have more time to get access to messages on the phone. They said Hakeem Burroughs was detained for a Maryland parole hold, so the continuance would not be the only thing keeping him in jail.
Prosecutors’ threatened to have Burroughs’ trial dismissed and re-indicted if the trial began before they could open the phone.
Judge Dayson seemed hesitant because the prosecution was beginning to make a habit of requesting continuances in the case. She said the prosecution requested a continuance before because they were trying to locate a witness.
The witness the prosecution wanted to locate apparently told Metropolitan Police Department detectives that Walker, 22, was walking away from a verbal altercation with Burroughs when he was shot.
Another victim was also shot but survived the incident, which occurred at the Paradise Apartment complex.
Burrough’s defense attorney, Dominique Winters, said the trial for first-degree murder while armed should proceed without continuance because it does not take long to crack an iPhone passcode. According to Winters, some iPhone codes have been cracked in thirty seconds.
Winters was also concerned that a continuance would violate Burroughs’ right to a speedy trial.
The prosecution said they only recently gained access to the technology required to break into iPhones.
Dayson requested the prosecution provide her with more information on the iPhone code cracking process before she would make a decision.
As of May 18, the trial is scheduled to begin on May 21.