Double Homicide Case has Enough Evidence to Go to Trial, Judge Rules

By Alisha Budhwani [former] - April 1, 2022
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

A Metropolitan Police Department detective continued his testimony on a double homicide investigation during the second day of the defendant’s preliminary hearing, which ended with a DC Superior Court judge ruling that the case has enough evidence to go to trial.

Jalen Browne, 21, faces two counts of first-degree murder while armed in the deaths of 22-year-old Jovan Hill Jr. and 19-year-old Tariq Riley. Both victims were shot in the back on the afternoon of July 26, 2021, on the grounds of an apartment complex in the Truxton Circle neighborhood. A third victim walked into a local hospital with a gunshot wound to the torso and survived their injuries.

Browne’s preliminary hearing began on March 23 and picked back up on March 29. During the second day of proceedings, defense attorney Douglas Wood continued cross-examining the detective, who said he believes the shooting occurred in retaliation for a robbery that allegedly happened on May 9 of that year in the same apartment parking lot where the shooting took place. The detective did not know what was taken during the robbery. One of the witnesses, a known associate of the victims, had no information about who was involved.

The detective said a woman was paid $100 for letting two men count money in her apartment after the robbery, but no evidence or information has come to light on who was involved.

Video footage from the day of the homicide shows an individual believed to be the shooter in a yellow hoodie, light-wash jeans, a high-visibility piece of clothing and reflective shoes. Investigators conducted a search of Browne’s family home and recovered a high-visibility vest and jacket, but neither of those items matched what the individual in the surveillance footage is wearing.

Surveillance footage also shows the vehicle allegedly used to get to and from the crime scene. The vehicle is described as a silver four-door sedan with tinted windows, a panoramic roof and a dark spoiler. During the search of Browne’s home, officers recovered a black spoiler. 

Prior to the shooting, Browne was in a car accident involving a nearly identical-looking vehicle with the same license plate number as the vehicle in surveillance footage of the shooting, with no panoramic roof or spoiler. 

Investigators eventually found the car seen in the surveillance footage, but could not prove Browne was driving it. They were unable to find a panoramic top or any adhesive material to suggest one had been there. The spoiler was chromatic.

A handgun was recovered from Browne’s family home, but it did not match the one believed to have been used in the homicide. The prosecution alleged that Browne received a gun from a family member in May 2020.

Wood asked the detective about the cell phone data, which suggests the phone was at Browne’s house when the homicide occurred. Multiple calls went unanswered that day.

The prosecution alleged that Browne intentionally left his phone at home to avoid his location being tracked and changed the appearance of the car to avoid suspicion. They also claimed that Browne called a family member once he got home.

Wood argued that none of the items recovered from the search identify Browne as the one who committed the homicide. He said the car was accessible to at least four other people the day before the homicide, none of whom were arrested.

Judge Robert Okun found probable cause, citing the evidence from the video footage, the vehicle, the clothing and the handling of Browne’s cell phone. He denied Wood’s request to release his client from DC Jail.

The next hearing in this case is scheduled for June 3.