Judge Finds Probable Cause for Murder Case, Holds Defendant

By D.C. Witness Staff - November 13, 2020
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects |

A DC Superior Court judge ruled that a murder case has enough evidence to go to trial and held the defendant at DC Jail. 

Raymond Davis is charged with second-degree murder while armed for allegedly shooting 39-year-old Henry Hackett on the 2700 block of Langston Place, SE on June 3. Hackett, a Maryland resident, died from his injuries at a local hospital. Davis, 47, was found about one mile from the scene inside a vehicle with a gunshot wound to his left leg. 

“The defendant was found an hour later in the same vehicle seen driving in before the murder and driving out after the murder, with what has been forensically determined to be the murder weapon along with a box of ammunition that matched the shell casings found on the scene,” Judge Neal Kravitz said.

Two surveillance cameras captured the shooting. The lead Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) detective on the case pointed out the black sedan pulling into the parking lot shortly before the shooting.

Hackett and a witness can be seen walking near the parked cars before a person wearing a white head covering exits the black sedan and shoots Hackett several times. The license plate on the black sedan matched the plate on Davis’ car. 

The detective also said that Davis was taken to the hospital about an hour after the shooting. He had been parked at 11th and I Street, SE when an unidentified suspect shot him through his car door.

The detective said that he didn’t know if the two shootings were connected. 

When detectives searched Davis’ car, they located a 9mm handgun and a box of ammunition. The handgun in Davis’ car was tested by the Department of Forensic Sciences (DFS) and compared to the shell casings found on the scene.

The detective said the shell casings matched the handgun found in Davis’ car. The ammunition found in the car was also the same brand as the casings found on the scene. 

Additionally, a witness, who saw the shooter, said he was a tall man, wearing a white hat, and looked like he was about 50-years old. 

Defense attorney Matthew Davies asked the detective if there was any footage of Davis pulling the trigger. The detective said the shooter was out of the camera’s view when he pulled the trigger, and he could only see Hackett collapse. 

Davies also asked the detective if Hackett or the witness with him had been under the influence of any drugs or alcohol. The detective said that he believed that Hackett and the witness were under the influence of Marijuana and alcohol at the time. 

Davies argued that the surveillance footage doesn’t show the defendant pulling the trigger, and even if the shooter was visible, Davis was not operating the vehicle at the time. 

“The evidence doesn’t show how Mr. Davis came to be in that car and where the firearm came from,” he said. 

After Judge Kravitz found probable cause, Davies asked for the defendant to be released, arguing that he has a stable job, took care of his teenage daughter and is not a threat to the community.

Davis’ daughter also spoke at the hearing, asking for her father to be released, explaining that Davis is a single father and her only parent. 

Judge Kravitz decided to hold Davis at DC Jail, but expressed his sympathy for Davis’ daughter and acknowledged that it was a very difficult decision to make.

“With knowledge and a certain amount of discomfort on the effect this has on Mr. Davis and his family, I find that no condition or combination of conditions can ensure the safety of the community,” Judge Kravitz went on to say. 

The defendant is scheduled to return to court on Feb. 8 for a felony status conference. 

John Sullivan wrote this article.