Judge Finds Substantial Probability in 2021 Homicide Case

By Isabelle Chiu [former] - August 1, 2022
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

During a preliminary hearing on Aug. 1, DC Superior Court Judge Milton Lee found substantial probability for a homicide case. 

Trevon Devore, 21, is charged with second-degree murder while armed in connection to the shooting of 27-year-old Daqual Covington on May 21, 2021, on the 60th block of O Street, SW. 

The prosecutor called to the stand the detective from the Metropolitan Police Department who was in charge of the investigation. 

The detective played videos of surveillance footage collected from the houses surrounding the shooting and from the house behind Devore’s residence.

In one surveillance clip, four individuals walk on the sidewalk when one individual, identified by the detective as Devore, turns back around the corner, pulls a suspected firearm from a satchel, and points it in an off-camera direction, before running away in the opposite direction with the three other individuals. 

The detective said the victim was found in the direction where Devore pointed his firearm. 

Additional footage shows Devore and two other individuals entering Devore’s residence through the back entrance. After a brief period of time, the three individuals exit wearing differently-colored clothes. 

The prosecutor then linked the identity of the individual in the surveillance videos to the defendant, citing images of Devore wearing the same clothes as the individual earlier that day and the identification of the defendant by an MPD officer who was familiar with him. 

“The evidence in this case is quite strong, given the offense is recorded on video,” the prosecutor said. 

Eleven .45-caliber shell casings were also recovered from the scene, according to the detective. A firearm testing analysis report determined all 11 casings were fired from the same firearm. The firearm was not recovered. 

The prosecutor said a 9mm firearm was recovered from Covington’s body, but the detective confirmed he recovered no shell casings that matched that firearm. 

FBI cell site data from Devore’s phone places him in the area of the offense location near the time of the shooting, despite Devore’s contradictory statements to police when interviewed. 

Devore’s defense attorney Lisbeth Sapirstein focused on whether the detective had evidence Devore acted in self-defense and whether Covington had a firearm pulled out when he was shot. 

The detective told Sapirstein that a witness, who was on the scene of the shooting, reported to police officers Covington had a firearm on his person when he was shot. The witness removed the firearm and placed it away from Covington before members of the MPD arrived on the scene. 

Sapirstein said the witness, who was Covington’s close friend, initially told police he recovered Convington’s firearm from Covington’s waistband, and then, in a future interview with Sapirstein and the prosecutor, said the firearm was near Covington’s hand. 

The witness also told police officers he and Covington had been walking together when they passed by the four individuals, including Devore, when Covington said, “that’s my arch-enemy.”

Sapirstein said surveillance footage wasn’t recovered by the detective, which could show how Covington was acting before he was shot. 

After Sapirstein finished her questioning, the prosecutor asked Judge Lee to find substantial probability for the case. 

During her closing argument, Sapirstein said there was no evidence of what Devore was responding to. She pointed out Covington’s prior criminal history of gun-related charges, his possession of a fully-loaded semi-automatic weapon, and his claim that Devore was his “arch-enemy”  as justifications for self-defense. 

Although Judge Lee agreed with Sapirstein that a key piece of evidence concerning Covington’s actions up to the shooting was missing, he found substantial probability linking Devore to the individual in the video. 

Devore will continue to be held in the DC Jail until his next court appearance, which is scheduled for Nov. 14. 

Devore was also arraigned on multiple counts of carrying a pistol without a license, possession of a large capacity ammunition feeding device, possession of an unregistered firearm, and unlawful possession of ammunition for a separate, unrelated case.