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
- April 15, 2019
Court
|
Daily Stories
|
Homicides
|
Suspects
|
During opening arguments, the prosecution in a murder trial appealed to the jury’s sensitivity regarding violence against children.
Derryck Decuir is charged with first-degree murder while armed for his alleged involvement in the shooting of Malek Dayvon Mercer on the 2800 block of 28th Street, SE. Decuir, 26, has been tried twice before. Both trials resulted in mistrials after the juries could not come to a unanimous decision regarding Decuir’s murder charge.
“Derryck Decuir murdered a child, a 15-year-old child,” the prosecutor told the jury on April 15.
According to the prosecution’s theory, Mercer was waiting at a bus stop with his friend when they ran into a group of three men, including Decuir. The prosecution said Decuir made a comment about Mercer’s belt, but became enraged when Mercer “snickered” at him in response.
Surveillance footage from a Metrobus shows Mercer, his friend and the three men board the same bus. Decuir can be seen sitting directly behind Mercer.
The prosecution said Decuir was watching Mercer for the entire nine minute bus ride until Mercer notified the bus driver that his stop was coming up. The three men then followed Mercer and his friend off the bus.
According to the prosecution, Decuir made a “beeline” toward the two teens, ran up behind them and shot Mercer in the back of the neck, instantly crippling him.
But, the defense had a different story.
“He fired in fear. He fired in self-defense,” defense attorney Lee Goebes told the jury. “MPD’s investigation was sloppy. It was incomplete. Because of that, it failed to uncover the truth.”
Goebes said his client fired in self-defense after he saw Mercer pulling a shotgun out of a duffel bag. However, according to police, there was no shotgun on the scene.
Goebes said Mercer’s friends “cleaned-up” the scene before the police arrived. There is evidence that places a shotgun at the scene, he said.
A crime scene technician told the jury that evidence left on the scene, included various items of clothing, a black duffel bag, a .9mm cartridge casing and a yellow shotgun shell.
The trial is scheduled to continue on April 17.