Defense Questions Witness’s Link Between Gun and Defendant

By Zakiyia Ortiz [former] - October 17, 2022
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Juveniles | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

On Oct. 14, defense attorney Jacqueline Cadman questioned the ballistic projectile links between the defendant and the witness.

JD Wheeler, 23, is charged with second-degree murder for allegedly shooting 23-month-old Legend King Wheeler on the 2300 block of Chester Street, SE on Nov. 24, 2021. 

During the hearing on Sept. 13, a Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) detective received a radio call to respond to a residence where a minor was suffering from a gunshot wound to the head. According to the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office of the District of Columbia (OCME), the cause of death was a single gunshot to the right side of Legend’s head just above his teeth line. The gunshot fractured the base of the child’s brain, injuring the brain stem before exiting the right side of the head. 

Cadman asked the detective on the stand about one of the witnesses’ false testimonies about seeing Wheeler with a gun.

Cadman also presented that the witness was pulled over for driving without a license and carrying a 9-millimeter gun with a loaded bullet in the chamber and 2 magazines similar to the assumed weapon that killed the child. 

The witness told a patrol officer that he had a Virginia license. Yet, after a search through the system, he didn’t have a license for driving or for the weapon found under the driver’s seat.

The prosecution argued for a second-degree murder conviction for Wheeler because he acted with a conscious disregard, and it was mentioned that he was warned by several family members that having his gun out would be dangerous to his son.

Cadman argued the medical examiner ruled Legend’s death as an accident.

This was a gross deviation from a reasonable standard for involuntary manslaughter, she said. The witness turned up with a gun two months after the tragedy occurred and gave the detective only one magazine, then got in trouble two months later with another 9 millimeter. 

DC Superior Court Judge Robert Okun took both parties’ arguments into consideration and said he would give his ruling on Oct. 17.