Defense Shifts Blame to Defendant’s Ex-Girlfriend

By D.C. Witness Staff - June 13, 2018
Court | Homicides | Suspects |

During opening statements in a 2014 murder trial, the defense said their client was innocent and that the real killer was one of the prosecution’s witnesses.

Andre Joyner is charged with second-degree murder while armed for allegedly stabbing Jamie Washington on the  700 block of 18th Street, NE in 2014. Joyner, 27, is also charged with allegedly destroying the clothes he was wearing on the night of the murder.

According to the prosecution’s theory, the fatal stabbing stemmed from a hunt for a stolen laptop. Apparently, Joyner’s girlfriend at the time returned home from work and found her laptop missing. After talking with her cousin, Joyner’s girlfriend suspected Washington, who was in her apartment earlier that day, took her laptop. 

Joyner and his girlfriend then searched for Washington and eventually found him in an alleyway. The prosecution says Joyner stabbed Washington, 31, in the alleyway with a kitchen knife.

In the defense’s opening statements, Kevin Mosley refuted the prosecution’s theory and said they lacked evidence. Mosley said that neither Joyner nor Washington’s DNA was on the murder weapon. 

Furthermore, Mosley pointed out that Joyner’s girlfriend had been drinking throughout the day. Mosley said the girlfriend, fueled by anger from her stolen laptop along with her level of intoxication “snapped” and killed Washington.

Joyner’s girlfriend pled guilty to being an accessory to Washington’s murder. As part of a plea agreement, she agreed to testify.

The trial is scheduled to continue on June 14.