Defense Questions Witness On Instagram Account Accessibility

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The cross-examination of a Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) criminal investigator continued on March 8 in a trial for the murder of a 10-year-old girl.

Gregory Taylor, 26, Quentin Michals, 25, Qujuan Thomas, 24, Darrise Jeffers, 23, Isaiah Murchison, 22, and Marquell Cobbs, 21, are six of 10 defendants charged with first-degree murder, criminal street gang affiliation, conspiracy, possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, assault with intent to kill, and other charges regarding a fatal drive-by shooting that resulted in the death of 10-year-old Makiyah Wilson. The shooting happened on the 300 block of 53rd Street, NE on July 16, 2018.

The MPD investigator took the stand for the third time to allow the defense to finish their cross-examination. The witness has been shown and questioned on detailed reports taken from the defendants’ Instagram accounts, which containing pictures, posts, videos, and group chat messages.

Defense attorneys Elizabeth Weller and Julie Swaney questioned the investigator about account accessibility.

The witness said he could testify as to what content is posted to an Instagram account and to who that account is attributed. However, he is unable to testify as to who exactly posted to the account when the specific content, in question, was posted.

In addition to not being able to testify as to who specifically posted at any given time, he stated that if the original owner of the account logs in using a device that is not their own, the owner of the device could access and post to the account.

The investigator stated that he only received 8 hours of training on the general mechanisms of Instagram.

He also said he was not given specific training as to what certain slang means. Because of this, he is only able to testify to what he believes slang means based on personal experience.

During his cross-examination, Cobbs’ attorney Kevin McCants repeatedly asked for the investigator’s interpretation of certain slang or images in the Instagram reports.

The prosecution continually objected to this questioning.

This caused D.C. Superior Court Judge Okun to dismiss the jury for a short break.

During the break, the prosecution argued that because the investigator is not an expert witness he cannot be asked or testify to his interpretation of the evidence. The prosecutors said they would “love to ask this man about his opinion” but that it was improper because his interpretation would be based on personal experience, not fact.

Judge Okun agreed with this argument and precluded the defense from asking any more questions about the investigator’s opinion or interpretation of the evidence. The parties concluded their questioning and the jury was dismissed for the day.

All parties are scheduled to return on March 9 to continue the trial.

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