Defense Argues Homicide Defendant’s Arrest Was Unconstitutional

By Sophia Cooper - April 23, 2025
Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

DC Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman heard arguments on a motion about a defendant’s Fourth Amendment rights against illegal seizure during a hearing for a fatal shooting case on April 22.  

Anthony Green, 39, is charged with first-degree premeditated murder while armed and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence for his alleged involvement in the fatal shooting of 24-year-old Terence Akindo on the 2300 block of 13th Place, NE, on July 30, 2023. Akindo died from gunshot wounds to his head and chest. 

At the hearing, Judge Edelman informed parties that Green refused to be searched at the courthouse and was consequently sent back to the jail. 

Green’s defense attorney, Sylvia Smith, informed the court that she spoke to Green the previous day and was surprised he was not present. The defense requested Green’s presence be waived for the hearing. 

The prosecution objected due to the substantive nature of the hearing and expressed concerns about creating a potential appeal issue.

Judge Edelman expressed frustration that parties were in a “place where nothing is moving forward” because Green also refused to get off the bus from the jail at the last hearing on April 18. The judge explained that he would feel more comfortable proceeding without the defendant if he received something in writing waiving his presence. 

After US Marshals returned Green to the courthouse, Judge Edelman heard arguments regarding the defense motion to suppress evidence obtained as a result of an alleged illegal arrest or seizure of Green.

Green’s other defense attorney, Jessica Willis, argued that the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) acted “reckless, hasty, and fast and loose with the facts” when they entered Green’s home on July 31, 2023 and unlawfully seized him. Willis alleged that MPD used the pretext of a welfare check to further their homicide investigation and take a photo of Green they needed for an identification at the police station, leading to his arrest.

Willis further argued that MPD entered unlawfully without a warrant and therefore everything that occurred after the illegal entry and seizure should be inadmissible at trial. 

The prosecution called a detective from the MPD homicide unit who said he received an email the day after the incident with a written summary of an anonymous tip received by the MPD Command Information Center (CIC).

The email said that the caller was scared of the man who committed the shooting and alleged that he lived illegally on the 1300 block of Adams Street, NE with a pregnant woman. The caller said he also lived there.

The tipster refused to give her name but agreed to speak with a detective and left a callback number. The detective said he interviewed the source on July 31. 

Prosecutors played clips from the detective’s interviews at the police department with the CIC caller and another individual she was in a romantic relationship with, who also alleged that he witnessed the shooting. 

The detective said that while he conducted the interviews, other MPD detectives went to the address the caller provided. In the interview room, the detective said he received photos of Green and the pregnant female from the other detectives which he showed to the CIC tipster and she subsequently identified them both. 

In her interview with the detective, the tipster also admitted that she did not see Akindo get shot but allegedly knew Green was the shooter because she had seen him with a gun before.

The man, who the detective subsequently interviewed, alleged that he saw Green put a black ski mask on and witnessed the shooting himself. He also identified a person said to be Green in a photo the detective showed him. 

Time constraints prohibited the detective from finishing his testimony and the judge from ruling on the motion.

Parties are scheduled to reconvene on April 28.