DC Superior Court Judge Jason Park refused to allow the testimony of a witness called in by Steven Kiersh, defense attorney for Alonzo Brown, during court proceedings on May 19.
Brown, 28, and Naquel Henderson, 27, are charged with first-degree murder while armed, conspiracy to commit a crime of violence, five counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, and four counts of assault with intent to kill while armed. The charges stem from their alleged involvement in the shooting that killed 21-year-old Michael Taylor and injured two additional victims on Jan. 12, 2019, on the 1700 block of Benning Road, NE.
Brown and Henderson are two of five men charged with Taylor’s death. Stephon Evans, 24, and Tavist Alston, 31, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter while armed in 2022. Carlos Turner, 27, is scheduled for sentencing on June 5, following a guilty plea to undisclosed charges.
At trial, Kiersh proposed calling a pharmacologist to testify that requests made by a key prosecution witness for prescription medication in jail didn’t seem substantiated by the witness’ blood test results. Kiersh said he intended to use this testimony to impeach the credibility of the prosecution’s witness by showing the witness didn’t accurately report the person’s need for medication.
“To my mind, all these issues are of vanishingly little relevance to [the witness’] truthfulness,” Judge Park said.
Judge Park allowed the defense to introduce into evidence certain medical records that contradicted what the witness said about their past drug use while testifying in trial last week.
Julie Swaney, a defense attorney for Henderson, called a witness who testified to knowing Henderson for the past ten years. The witness said Henderson was a friend of his cousin, and the three of them often got together at his cousin’s residence in the Trinidad neighborhood.
The witness said he knew Henderson by the nickname of “Quel” and never heard the name “Hakim” applied to him. A key prosecution witness testified last week that he knew Henderson as “Hakim.”
Parties are set to reconvene on May 20.
