Defendant’s Neighbor and Friend Identifies Him as Perpetrator

By Delaney Don [former] - October 28, 2022
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

A homicide trial continued Oct. 27 for the fifth day with seven witnesses being called to testify.

Malik Holston, 20, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder while armed in connection with the shooting of 15-year-old Gerald Watson on the 2900 block of Knox Place, SE on Dec. 13, 2018.

The prosecution called three Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers to testify. The first detective responded to the scene where Steffan Brathwaite, the deceased accomplice in Watson’s murder, was himself killed on Sept. 10, 2019. The detective had been patrolling the area and heard gunshots to which he quickly responded and witnessed Brathwaite on the ground, shot but still breathing.

The two other MPD officers testified to the gathering of photos and surveillance footage as evidence.

Another witness explained that he called the police an hour before Watson’s shooting after he heard a group of people arguing in the parking lot of his building on the 2400 block of Knox Place, SE. 

It was unclear if the witness called the police because he heard arguments or if he called when he heard gunshots an hour later.

The prosecution presented this uncertainty to the judge and requested to call the witness back to reclarify, which Superior Court Judge Rainey Brandt denied. 

The prosecution then called one of Holston’s neighbors and friends to the stand. She lived in the same apartment building as him on the 2400 block of Knox Place, SE. According to the witness, Holston ran into her apartment alone, where he and friends would spend time often, “breathing heavy” and holding a “black gun” on Dec. 13, 2018, after the shooting of Watson.

The witness said that she and Holston were close, and she would often refer to him fondly as a “nephew” or using his nickname, “Leek.” While he came by her apartment often, this time she asked him to leave because the gun made her “not feel right.”

The witness also stated Holston was wearing a black Helly Hansen jacket when he ran into her apartment. She identified it as the same one as seen in the surveillance footage earlier presented of the two gunmen entering the Langston Lane apartments on the 2900 block of Knox Place, SE on Dec. 13, 2018, where Watson was shot. 

Defense attorney Shawn Sukumar asked if it was a popular, generic jacket and if she had seen it many times around the community on many different people? The witness said “no” and that the same jacket on different people does not look the same.

In a very emotional moment, the witness identified the defendant in the courtroom as Holston, the man she knew well and who had run into her apartment with a gun.

Next, a digital forensic scientist, someone who investigates technology as evidence, explained the evidence gathered from Brathwaite’s phone after he was murdered. The expert said he discovered texts between Brathwaite and his then on-again-off-again girlfriend. Brathwaite told her about the murder.

The girlfriend explained the text messages found to the jury. She read the texts aloud and explained that Brathwaite admitted to killing Watson. “Leek, was still in for that murder shit,” the texts read.  

The police arrested Holston, but not Brathwaite, who was lying low, according to his girlfriend.

Judge Brandt set the trial to continue on Oct. 28 with the prosecution to call two more witnesses. 

The prosecution expects to rest by the end of the day.