After less than two days of deliberations, jurors informed DC Superior Court Judge Neal Kravitz on Sept. 10 that they reached a guilty verdict for a homicide defendant.
David Key, 39, was initially charged with first-degree felony murder while armed, first-degree premeditated murder while armed, and attempt to commit robbery while armed. The charges stemmed from his involvement in the fatal stabbing of 33-year-old Devon Greenfield on April 1, 2024 on the 300 block of 61st Street, NE.
Greenfield died from seven sharp force injuries: three to his chest, two to the upper back, one to his lip, and one to his jaw.
The jury found Key not guilty of first-degree felony murder and attempt to commit robbery. However, they found Key guilty of the lesser-included offense of second-degree murder while armed and first-degree premeditated murder.
In closing statements on Sept. 8, the prosecution asserted that “coincidence after coincidence” is evidence of Key’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
The prosecutor claimed Key said “You think I’m fucking playing with you,” and “out your pockets,” when he attempted to rob Greenfield. “Those were the last words that Devon Greenfield heard” before he died, the prosecutor reminded jurors.
When Greenfield didn’t comply fast enough, the prosecutor argued Key decided to kill him. “You don’t stab someone three times to the heart unless you are trying to kill them.”
After the murder, prosecutors highlighted video footage that showed the suspect’s flight path back towards Key’s house on 59th Place, NE.
Before the offense, in a video at 6:51 p.m., prosecutors claimed Key carried a plastic water bottle to the scene. In footage of the murder, the suspect tossed the plastic water bottle and it landed where investigators later recovered it.
An expert attributed DNA from the lip and cap area of the bottle to a mix of two individuals, including Key. The prosecution asserted it did not matter who the unknown contributor was.
Two days after the murder, police stopped Key in the same neighborhood and seized physical evidence from him. The prosecution emphasized that Key’s black boots, black backpack, grey jacket, and black hat matched the suspect’s attire in the footage.
In addition, the prosecution said police seized a knife from Key that an expert concluded was consistent with the type of weapon used to inflict Greenfield’s wounds.
“We ask that you hold him accountable,” the prosecution concluded.
Key’s attorney, Howard McEachern, acknowledged that the prosecution was not required to prove motive. However, McEachern asserted there was no evidence for why his client would kill Greenfield. Before, or on the day of, the incident, there was no animosity between the two.
Although police confiscated items from Key and investigators completed tests, McEachern asserted that no evidence from the police stop connected Key to the murder. “There lies the problem,” McEachern emphasized.
For example, there was no evidence of Greenfield’s DNA on the knife recovered from Key, McEachern said. Key’s clothes also had no blood on them.
McEachern also reminded jurors that the prosecutors’ expert said Key had a “common knife.”
In regards to the plastic water bottle, McEachern argued Key did not have to touch or drink from the bottle for his DNA to appear. The DNA expert found two contributors. Another person, the suspect, drank from the bottle, McEachern asserted.
McEachern told jurors to “accept that invitation,” to hold prosecutors to their burden of proof and find Key not guilty.
“Is David Key the unluckiest man in the world?” the prosecution asked jurors in their rebuttal argument.
The prosecution highlighted that the murder occurred in the neighborhood where Key lived and spent time. Two days after the offense, Key was arrested in the same area, with a knife capable of the crime and dressed in almost the same clothes.
Key’s trial had no pivotal, explosive moment, but the evidence proved a consistent theory, prosecutors asserted. The evidence pointed to one person, Key, the prosecutor said.
Key’s sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 20.
