Defense Announces Plans to Conduct Independent DNA Testing

By D.C. Witness Staff - July 8, 2019
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Suspects |

Defense counsel said there are plans to independently test evidence in murder case. 

Robert Dean, 61, is charged with first-degree murder while armed with a screwdriver for allegedly stabbing 38-year-old Tamiya White on the 1000 block of Mount Olivet Road, NE on March 31, 2018. 

Dean’s defense attorney, Anthony Matthews, said he planned to test two items of evidence, a screwdriver and a knife, for DNA. Matthews didn’t give a definitive answer about testing the items, saying he wanted to reserve the right to re-test the items once he receives more information from the prosecution. 

The prosecutor said she would have results from a DNA test applied to the victim’s fingernails to him within two weeks. 

The prosecutor also said multiple biological materials were collected from existing evidence, including items of clothing, a screwdriver, a knife found inside White’s purse and a paternity test. 

The prosecutor said the test results indicated the presence of White on a screwdriver. Apparently, White and Dean’s DNA was also on a jacket. According to the prosecutor, the paternity test indicated that Dean was the biological father of the fetus. 

Matthews said the defense would not be re-testing the other items of evidence, including the paternity test. 

According to court documents, officers from the Metropolitan Police Department found White conscious and breathing, bleeding uncontrollably from the left side of her neck in a McDonald’s restaurant. White was pronounced dead later that afternoon.

Surveillance Footage at the McDonald’s restaurant shows White drive to the fast food store, holding her neck as she entered.

Apparently, a witness called the crime tip line and reported that Dean and White had gotten into a verbal altercation, during which Dean stabbed White several times with a screwdriver.

A trial readiness hearing is scheduled on Sept.17.