Expert Witness Testifies to Defendant’s General Location During Shooting

By Jennifer Ollmann [former] - October 28, 2022
Court | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

During an Oct. 27 proceeding, DC  Superior Court Judge Marisa Demeo presided over parties during a three co-defendant murder trial as two expert witnesses testified before jurors regarding crime scene processing and phone record placement analysis.

Derek Turner, 31, and Ronnika Jennings, 44, are charged with first-degree murder while armed, possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, and conspiracy in connection to the shooting of 28-year-old Andrew McPhatter on March 5, 2017, on the 3500 block of Wheeler Road, SE. 

The third co-defendant, 33-year-old, Duan Hill, is charged with conspiracy and six counts of obstruction of justice in relation to this case.

In addition to this case, Turner is charged with first-degree murder while armed for the shooting 23-year-old Devin Hall on Jan. 7, 2017, on the 3500 block of 6th Street, SE.

The prosecution called a member of the Metropolitan Police Department who specializes in crime scene processing. During his testimony, he presented and explained photos taken at the crime scene. These images showed the cars and clothing left behind after the shooting.

A technical engineer working for T-Mobile specializing in phone record and phone tower connection analysis explained how cell phone tower pinging works and how the phone company can tell generally where an individual made calls or received texts given their connection to a tower. 

In relation to this case, the witness presented the towers the defendants’ cell phones connected to during the time of and after the shooting occurred. While the information presented by the witness shows the general location, it does not give an exact location and only tells the phone company where a call started and ended but not where it traveled while the call was being taken. Because of this, the witness could not be confident in the exact locations of the defendants.

Because of the earlier delay, the defense had to hold their cross examination of the witness for the next trial day. 

Judge Demeo set the trial to continue on Oct. 31.