Co-defendants in an armed carjacking and conspiracy case worked through 30 motions and navigated sensitive firearms evidence with their attorneys and prosecutors before DC Superior Court Judge Neal Kravitz on Oct 23.
Byron Gillum, 20, Jaelen Jordan, 20, Isaiah Flowers, 20, Jahkai Goff, 21, Warren Montgomery, 20, Taj Giles, 20, and Irshaad Ellis-Bey, 20, are charged with conspiracy, trafficking stolen property, two counts of armed carjacking, two counts of unauthorized use of a vehicle, four counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, and two counts of robbery while armed.
The charges stem from their alleged involvement in a carjacking ring. A Feb 27, 2023 armed carjacking of a Porsche Cayenne at the intersection of 20th Street and Sunderland Place, NW and an April 27, 2023 armed carjacking of a BMW X6 at the intersection of 8th and K Streets, NE.
Jordan, Goff, Gillum, Ellis-Bey, Giles, and Flowers are also charged with two additional counts of unauthorized use of a vehicle, two counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, armed carjacking of a senior citizen, receiving stolen property of $1,000 or more, and robbery of a senior citizen while armed. The charges stem from their alleged involvement in a carjacking that occurred on the 600 block of Butternut Street, NE, on May 16, 2023. They are alleged to have carjacked a Porsche Cayenne GTS in that incident.
During the hearing, the co-defendants, their eight attorneys, two prosecutors, and Judge Kravitz worked through 30 motions in preparation for their upcoming trial. Much of the hearing centered on the admission of photo evidence of the defendants with guns.
In an earlier hearing, Judge Kravitz had instructed prosecutors to be extremely selective in their portrayal of firearm evidence during the trial.
Judge Kravitz clarified his position during the hearing after prosecutors said they hoped to introduce six images of firearms and make nine total references to firearms photos in their arguments. Judge Kravitz said that those numbers did not reflect his instruction at the previous hearing.
“It’s not a negotiation between you and me,” Kravitz told prosecutors.
After parties returned from lunch, prosecutors presented a reduced list of four total photo exhibits concerning firearms. Together, they depict each of the defendants with firearms, including two assault-style rifles.
Jordan’s defense attorney, Brian McDaniel, objected to the use of images with the assault-style firearms, arguing that a witness’ description of an “Uzi style weapon” was not sufficient to justify including images of the longer assault-style rifles.
“This is not an Uzi-style weapon,” McDaniel said. “In essence that would be the court guessing at what [the witness] meant.”
Multiple defense attorneys also made the point that prosecutors could just use the physical guns already in evidence. Prosecutors explained the necessity of evidence showing that each of the defendants had access to firearms consistent with the firearms reportedly used in the carjackings.
Kravitz ultimately sided with prosecutors on most of the firearms pictures, but warned them to proceed with extreme caution in how they present arguments about firearms during trial.
“I think that this present set of items of evidence is not inappropriate given the case law and the options available to the [prosecution] and the defendant’s access to firearms during the conspiracy and specifically their possession of a black and tan pistol,” Judge Kravitz said.
“I hope the [prosecution] understands the great risk of mistrial in their firearms arguments,” Judge Kravitz later added.
Parties also discussed a swath of evidence from the defendants’ Instagram accounts. Prosecutors informed the court that they whittled down the number of Instagram exhibits from 415 to around 200. Much of the morning was spent deliberating over lingering issues with the remaining exhibits.
Several of Judge Kravitz’s rulings on the Instagram evidence went in the favor of prosecutors. Judge Kravitz allowed prosecutors to introduce text re-posted by Giles. The original post read “we gon be rich legally or illegally idgaf.”
Judge Kravitz also allowed in several other pieces of evidence over objection including video of the defendants sleeping in a car, a birthday post made by Ellis-Bey for Flowers, and correspondence between the defendants about a Twitter post allegedly highlighting the Feb. 27 carjacking.
Judge Kravitz denied prosecutors’ motions to include a photo of an unindicted alleged co-conspirator, video of one of the defendants driving with a gloves and a ski mask, and a string of text messages talking about the illegal sale of cars unrelated to the cars the defendants are accused of carjacking.
Parties agreed to highlight to the jury that Montgomery is only charged with conspiracy from April to May, whereas the other co-defendants are charged with conspiracy from Feb. to May. A prosecutors’ motion to admit statements was not decided by the court.
Parties are slated to reconvene on Oct. 27.
