Judge Rules to Separate Homicide Evidence Before Trial

By D.C. Witness Staff - June 13, 2018
Court | Homicides | Suspects |

Less than a day before the start of a 2014 murder trial, a  judge ruled to separate evidence used to create a timeline relating to the stabbing death of Jamie Washington.

Andre Joyner, 27,  is charged with second-degree murder while armed for allegedly stabbing Washington, 31, on the 700 block of 18th Street, NE in 2014.

To create the timeline, the prosecution used surveillance footage from a nearby liquor store and telephone records from a woman who was near the crime scene during the time of the murder. 

Kevin Mosley, Joyner’s defense attorney, argued that the “manufactured” timeline was “misleading.”  Mosley said the video timestamp doesn’t necessarily align with the timestamp on the phone records. 

DC Superior Court Judge Judith Bartnoff said she was concerned the discrepancy between the timestamps from the video and phone records could lead to an inaccurate depiction of the order of events. She ruled that the prosecution could create a timeline based on the telephone records. Judge Bartnoff said the prosecution could create another timeline using the surveillance footage but the two could not be introduced into evidence together.

Judge Bartnoff said she would instruct the jury about the potential time discrepancy between the video and the phone records.

Joyner is scheduled to stand trial June 13.