Accomplice in Murder Case Testifies Against Friends

Thank you for reading D.C. Witness. Help us continue our mission into 2024.

During a Nov. 3 hearing, the prosecution continued questioning a previous witness who was an accomplice in the crime.

Robert Moses and James Mayfield are charged with first-degree murder while armed for allegedly shooting 17-year-old Jamahri Sydnor and wounding three other bystanders on Aug. 10, 2017. Moses is also charged with conspiracy, unlawful possession of a firearm, and several counts of obstruction of justice. Mayfield is also charged with second-degree murder while armed and attempted robbery while armed.

Phillip McDaniel, an accomplice who was arrested and charged in 2017 for his involvement in Sydnor’s murder, signed a plea deal to lessen his sentence to second-degree murder. This deal included his testimony against Moses and Mayfield.

McDaniel continued his testimony, saying he heard three gunshots on Aug. 10.

When cross-examined by Moses’s defense attorney, Steven Kiersh, McDaniel admitted to abusing Xanax, something that has been proven to provide memory loss.

McDaniel said he is “someone with an infatuation with guns” and even has an AK-47 tattooed on his forearm.

He said this infatuation led him to illegally sell and distribute guns, something he had been doing since he was 16 but was never arrested. He said he just “slipped through the cracks” of law enforcement.

The murder weapon used was a gun McDaniel possessed and then sold, a .47 caliber XD pistol.

But, James Mayfield’s defense attorney, Veronica Holt, pointed out McDaniel has a tendency to lie “when it suits him best.”

McDaniel disagreed, saying he did it when he felt he had to. He admitted to lying for seven hours straight when he was first arrested in 2017 and charged with Sydnor’s murder. He said he lied to the prosecution in 2017 when asked about his involvement with the shooting.

According to a press release, Moses and Mayfield fired more than ten rounds at individuals at the intersection of Montana and Saratoga Avenues, NE on Aug. 10, 2017.

The prosecution also called a trauma expert to testify about the injuries sustained by one of the bystanders. According to the expert, the bystander received a bullet wound to their left buttocks, which was lodged near his inner femur bone.

The trauma surgeon was unable to determine the caliber of the bullet because it would have been too damaging to the bystander’s tissue to remove it.

A Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officer from the gun recovery unit identified the .47 caliber XD pistol as the one he seized from an apartment in Southeast. This led to the immediate arrest of four men in the apartment. None of them were McDaniel, Moses, or Mayfield.

Superior Court Judge Maribeth Raffinan scheduled the trial to continue on Nov. 7 with McDaniel continuing his testimony.

Follow this case