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By
Cameron Horne
- October 25, 2024
Daily Stories
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Non-Fatal Shooting
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Shooting
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Suspects
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A jury acquitted a shooting defendant on both pending charges after a week-long trial before DC Superior Court Judge Rainey Brandt on Oct. 24.
Jamal Coleman, 32, was charged with assault with intent to kill while armed and aggravated assault knowingly while armed for his alleged aiding and abetting role as the driver in a May 4, 2023 shooting on the 4600 block of Polk Street, NE in which one victim was injured.
Over the course of the trial, prosecutors asserted that Coleman was the driver of a vehicle that slowed down next to the victim before shots were fired from the passenger seat.
Coleman’s attorneys, Carrie Weletz and Elizabeth Weller, made note of inferences and “leaps in logic” the jury would be required to make in order to return a guilty verdict. Weletz identified each of those “holes” during her closing statements.
The jury returned from deliberations Oct. 1, the same day they began and delivered a not guilty finding on both of Coleman’s charges.