Defense Challenges Victim’s Identification of Shooting Suspect

By Laura Berol - September 3, 2024
Court | Daily Stories | Non-Fatal Shooting | Suspects |

DC Superior Court Judge Michael O’Keefe delayed jury selection for Anthrone Cabos‘ non-fatal shooting trial by one day on Aug. 30 so parties can finish questioning the lead detective in the case about the victim’s disputed identification of Cabos as her assailant.

Cabos, 27, is charged with assault with intent to kill while armed, aggravated assault knowingly while armed, assault with a dangerous weapon, assault with significant bodily injury while armed, simple assault, four counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, unlawful possession of a firearm, possession of an unregistered firearm, and unlawful possession of ammunition. The charges stem from his alleged involvement in a non-fatal shooting on June 28, 2020, on the 600 block of Condon Terrace, SE.

According to court documents, a witness told Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) detectives that Cabos shot the victim in the stomach during an argument over a drug sale.

Kevin O’Sullivan, Cabos’ defense attorney, filed a motion on April 26 arguing that the victim’s identification of Cabos as the shooter from a photo array should not be admitted into evidence. 

O’Sullivan said the victim’s neighbors suggested to her that someone nicknamed  “Pig” might be the shooter. When she gave this information to a MPD detective, he asked her for a photo. 

According to Sullivan, the victim got a photo of Cabos from a neighbor and forwarded it to the detective before the photo array, making it more likely she would identify Cabos in the photo array.

In court, the prosecution called the lead detective in Cabos’ case as a witness. He supervised the detective who received the photo from the victim and the detective who conducted the photo array.

According to the lead detective, the victim was too badly injured for MPD officers to communicate with her on the night of the shooting or for five days afterwards. 

“She was receiving pretty serious medical treatment, so law enforcement didn’t contact her,” the lead detective said. He testified that her medical records showed she had surgery to the intestine, liver and uterus, and was in critical condition with a breathing tube during that time.

The lead detective said, when an MPD detective first interviewed the victim, she told him that she didn’t personally know the name of the man who had shot her, but she had heard from someone in the neighborhood that his nickname was Pig. Two days later, she texted the detective that she had learned the shooter’s name was “Arthrone.”

“The person who gave her the nickname Pig didn’t personally witness the shooting?” O’Sullivan asked during cross-examination.

“Correct,” said the lead detective.

O’Sullivan displayed a text from an MPD detective to the victim, sent before the photo array, that asked her if she had a photo of the person known as Pig. She texted back that the people she had asked for a photo were “clueless.”

“You don’t know if the complainant found a picture of Cabos and texted it to [the detective] before the photo array?” O’Sullivan asked.

The lead detective said the victim and the detective she was texting both said she didn’t.

According to the lead detective, the victim circled Cabos’ picture in the photo array and wrote, “Very sure. Zero doubt it’s him.”

O’Sullivan asked Judge O’Keefe to order the prosecution to turn over all files from a case one of the witnesses had pending before the court while testifying in Cabos’ case. O’Sullivan said the files might undermine the reliability of the witness by revealing contradictions in the witness’ statements to police or showing the witness was trying to gain leniency from the prosecution by cooperating in the case against Cabos.

Parties are scheduled to reconvene on Sept. 3.