A Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) detective testified about a murder during a preliminary hearing before DC Superior Court Michael Ryan on Oct. 16.
Jaheim Brown, 24, is charged with first-degree murder while armed for his alleged involvement in the fatal shooting of 28-year-old Christopher Robinson at the 5500 block of B Street, SE, on Nov. 20, 2024.
The prosecutor called the lead Metropolitan Police (MPD )detective on the case who identified Brown as a suspect and arrested him. They presented a series of surveillance videos from the day of the incident that the detective collected.
The detective testified that he was able to identify Brown and Robinson in the videos from an eyewitness who was also captured in the videos.
According to the detective, this same eyewitness told him that he and Brown went to the incident location the day of the murder to sell “boot,” a powerful new drug mixture including MDMA.
The first four videos were from the incident location and showed two individuals around what the detective described as a “boxy” vehicle. MPD later identified the vehicle as a dark-colored Dodge Nitro. The detective said the individual in the red coat in the videos was identified as Brown by the other individual, the eyewitness, who wore a light-colored coat.
According to the eyewitness, Brown became very upset when interacting with Robinson and accused him of being a police officer.
The videos then showed an argument between Brown, the eyewitness, and Robinson. The eyewitness attempted to calm Brown saying, “hey bro, chill bro,” then saying “come back bro.” Then the person alleged to be Brown stated “keep walking, what you wanna die for” towards Robinson, who was walking away in the direction of his home.
Brown’s attorney, Kevin Mosley, later objected, emphasizing how the detective could not determine which of the three said what during this interaction through voice recognition because the footage was taken from far away.
Then a voice in the video said “say what, say what bruh” and a series of gunshots were heard.
After the video played the gunshots, Robinson’s mother who was present in the courtroom, broke down in tears, sobbing and repeating “oh my baby.” After she repeatedly insisted that she could stay, her family escorted her out of the courtroom.
Judge Ryan stated it was a “very emotional manner” and the prosecutor apologized for not warning about the shots before playing the video.
The prosecution then showed a separate, close-up video which the detective said was Robinson being shot and falling to the ground.
After the shooting, the closer video showed both the person alleged to be Brown and the eyewitness running back to the Dodge.
The detective said during his interview with Brown about the shooting, Brown told him that he knew of the location of the homicide and had been there before, as it was near his friend’s house. Brown also told him that he owned a blue Dodge Nitro, according to the detective.
During cross-examination, Mosley questioned the credibility of the eyewitness. Mosley asserted that there was no body-worn camera footage of the eyewitness claiming Brown committed the shooting. Mosley also claimed that the eyewitness was initially reluctant to talk about the shooting and told the detective multiple lies during their interview. Mosley also highlighted that the witness was smoking marijuana at one point during the day prior to the incident and had a history of mental health problems.
The detective said that the eyewitness’ noncompliance during the interview was due to not wanting to get involved in the case.
According to Mosley, Brown was honest and forthcoming about information and his knowledge of the incident location and his ownership of the Dodge Nitro during his interview.
Mosley emphasized that all that was determined by the videos was that the individual in the red coat shot Robinson. According to the detective, the videos were too blurry to match any facial features to Brown, but determined the eyewitness who identified Brown to be the individual in the light-colored coat by their build and testimony.
Mosley also insinuated the possibility that the shooter could have acted out of self-defense because the surveillance footage of Robinson falling down did not clearly show his hands and whether they were empty of threatening weapons.
The detective finally confirmed that he could not see Robinson’s hands in the video.
Mosley also questioned the detective about Robinson’s character, and alleged he was known to use illegal narcotics. Mosley referenced the arrest warrant in which the detective said someone he interviewed described Robinson to be “strange.”
Eventually, Judge Ryan said, “less argument, more questions.”
The detective finished his testimony and Mosley requested to continue probable cause arguments at a later date.
The parties are slated to reconvene on Oct. 20.
