DC Superior Court Judge Michael Ryan heard testimony from a lead detective of the Metropolitan Police Department’s Homicide Unit to determine whether the prosecution has probable cause to charge the defendant on Sept. 5.
Daniel Thomas, 24, is charged with first-degree murder while armed for his alleged involvement in the fatal shooting of 47-year-old Jeanette Walls during a “drive-by” shooting on the 4300 block of Wheeler Road, SE, on Nov 11, 2020.
According to court documents, Walls died from a gunshot wound to her head. Two others sustained injury but have since recovered.
The prosecution argued that they had probable cause to charge Thomas with murder because of his alleged connection with two weapons involved in the homicide. The prosecution cited a latent fingerprint on an AR pistol, the murder weapon, and Thomas’ possession of a ghost gun, which was allegedly found in his flight path after running from officers prior to his arrest on Nov. 12.
Defense attorney Todd Baldwin argued that a connection to the guns does not indicate that he used the gun in the homicide of Walls.
“Posessing a gun at any point does not correlate to using that gun in a murder,” Baldwin said.
During cross examination of the detective, he highlighted an Instagram live video of multiple men passing an AR pistol that resembled the murder weapon. He clarified for the court that during the investigation, officers initially said Thomas was in the Instagram video, but after a second watch, said he was not.
The prosecution argued that the Instagram video demonstrated that Thomas was involved with “friends who hang out and potentially pass guns around.”
The prosecution argued that Thomas was in another video, firing what resembled the murder weapon.
The detective testified that he believed Thomas was in the video because the video was “on his phone and sent out from his phone” and that the man matched “his skin tone” and “the size of his arms and legs.”
Baldwin highlighted in cross examination that Thomas never indicated that it was him in the video when he sent the video. He also questioned the detective on his belief that Thomas was in the video based on his skin tone and size of his limbs.
The prosecution also alleged that there were multiple deleted calls between Thomas and one of his friends from the “day before, the day of, and the day after” the murder.
Baldwin argued that deleted calls are not a sign of guilt.
“People delete phone calls for innocuous reasons, right?” Baldwin said.
Baldwin closed by arguing that the prosecution has not conducted a sufficient investigation. He cited a confession made to an informant that the prosecution has used in prior investigations.
Baldwin said that the alleged confession, which referenced killing an “old-lady” in Walls’ apartment complex, was specific to the homicide in this case. The detective confirmed that there were no other homicides in Walls’ apartment complex in 2020.
Baldwin argued that the confessor should be a suspect because he admitted to the homicide without prompt and did so against his best interest.
The detective said that the man who confessed is not a suspect and was not related to the crime.
At this point no evidence has been presented of Thomas’ being in the vehicle involved in the drive-by based on DNA evidence or eyewitness testimony.
Due to time constraints, Judge Ryan was unable to make a final ruling.
Parties are slated to reconvene Sept. 8.
