Judge Finds Probable Cause in Murder Case

By Bersabel Ephrem [former] - August 18, 2022
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

After two days of preliminary hearings, DC Superior Court Judge Rainey Brandt ruled that a fatal shooting of a mother of two has enough evidence to go to trial. 

On March 10, Metropolitan Police Department detectives located 30-year-old Deshaun Cupid in the driver’s seat of her Gray Infiniti sedan. Her two-year-old and one-year-old children were unharmed in their car seats. Cupid was later pronounced dead later that evening. 

On June 3, Dominique Brown-Young was arrested and charged with first-degree murder while armed. 

During the Aug. 15 preliminary hearing, the prosecutor alleged that Brown-Young planned to shoot and kill Cupid’s boyfriend and that Cupid was not the intended target.

In surveillance video from the 700 block of 17 Street, NE and Benning Road, Brown-Young is seen dressed in all black with a bright-blue baseball hat walking towards the lobby of a building on the 1700 block of Benning Road, NE. While inside, he is seen talking to four or five men for a few minutes when he receives a phone call and he is seen rushing out of the lobby and into the courtyard. 

The next time he is seen, he is sprinting to another building within the same complex, opening the door, and motioning for someone to follow him. At that point, cameras pick up another suspect, whose name was not revealed in court, dressed in a light gray hoodie and black pants. The suspect is seen following Brown-Young. Brown-Young then removes his bright blue baseball cap and is seen putting a black ski mask over his face. 

A person of interest is observed on the phone telling Brown-Young and the suspect what direction the victim’s car was headed as it is seen driving toward Benning Road, NE. Seven gunshots are heard a few seconds after Brown-Young and the suspect are seen heading toward the victim’s vehicle, which was off-camera. Video then shows Brown-Young and the suspect running away while keeping their hands in their pockets.

Defense attorney Molly Bunke, claimed that there was no proof of his possession of a firearm, no proof that he was acquainted with the victim, and no evidence that anyone had pointed to Brown-Young as the shooter. 

She also told the court that everyone knew the defendant as “NuNu” and that he didn’t have any other nicknames. However, when the suspect was questioned by police about the identity of the other man who was with him at the time of the shooting, he replied, “Jay,” and claimed that “Jay” was the one who shot the victim.

According to the prosecution, Brown-Young is the individual in the surveillance video.

“The defendant identified himself in the still shot, the defendant’s mother identified him, and other witnesses identified him,” the prosecutor said. He asked Judge Brandt to find probable cause for the charge of first-degree murder while armed. 

Judge Brandt ruled that there was enough evidence to establish probable cause.

“This was a brazen daylight shooting in a residential neighborhood where anybody could be walking up and down the street that could have been injured or killed, two babies that were in the backseat could have been injured or killed,” she said as she gave her decision. 

After Judge Brandt found probable cause, Bunke requested her client’s release from DC Jail, saying he is not a danger to the community.

“At 16 he got a job at Harris Teeter for two years to help his mom around the house, he is one month away from getting his CDL,” she said.  

The prosecution said, “His support system, he had that 6 months ago, your honor. He had it when he took a gun and shot seven times into a car.” 

Judge Brandt agreed to keep Brown-Young detained. “I’m not playing fast and loose with public safety.”

Brown-Young is scheduled to return to court on Oct. 7 for a status hearing.