Judge Continues Preliminary Hearing for 17-Year-Old Murder Defendant

By D.C. Witness Staff - February 26, 2021
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DC Superior Court Judge Neal Kravitz continued a preliminary hearing for a 17-year-old murder defendant after the second day of testimony. 

Deon Walters is charged with first-degree murder while armed in the shooting of 42-year-old Arthur Daniels, IV on Oct. 1 on the 6200 block of 8th Street, NW. Walters is being charged as an adult.

The preliminary hearing, which began on Feb. 19, will determine if the case has enough evidence to go to trial. 

The lead Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) detective on the case said he believes there were at least three people present at the crime scene, including Daniels, Walters and another suspect. There have not been any other arrests in this case, according to the police department’s site.

During cross-examination, the detective could not confirm that the voice of the person arguing with the victim is Walters’ voice. Only the voices of the men at the crime scene were captured on surveillance video.

The detective testified that there was no way to prove that the two suspects were acting in unison against Daniels since the verbal altercation was not captured. 

The same MPD detective was able to confirm that the defendant does not match the description that the eyewitness provided of the person who stole the victim’s vehicle after the shooting. GPS tracking was also able to show that Walters went straight home after the shooting and did not leave in the victim’s vehicle. At the time of the shooting, Walters was wearing a GPS tracking device.

The detective said he also received information that Daniels sold marijuana on Kennedy Street, NW, some of whose residents reportedly have “beef” with some residents on Rittenhouse Street, NW.

The detective said he was led to believe that the shooter could have been from Rittenhouse; however, the detective does not believe that the shooting occurred because of the neighborhood rivalry.

The preliminary hearing is scheduled to pick back up on March 4.