Judge takes Instagram Evidence Under Advisement

By Rachel Benck [former] - April 4, 2023
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

A trial on April 3 was briefly paused in a six co-defendant homicide case to allow for evidence from Instagram to be discussed and litigated.

Gregory Taylor, 26, Quentin Michals, 25, Qujuan Thomas, 24, Darrise Jeffers, 23, Isaiah Murchison, 22, and Marquell Cobbs, 21, are six of 10 defendants charged with first-degree murder, criminal street gang affiliation, conspiracy, possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, assault with intent to kill, and other charges regarding a fatal drive-by shooting that resulted in the death of 10-year-old Makiyah Wilson. The shooting happened on the 300 block of 53rd Street, NE on July 16, 2018.

An Instagram report containing posts, comments, images, and group messages was taken from an account allegedly owned by Michals. A group text between this account and others allegedly owned by the other defendants contained messages discussing the locations of shared firearms.

Erin Scalpi, Michals’s attorney, argued that these messages were hearsay because the defendants’ possession of firearms were said by others in the chat.

The prosecution argued that the actual names typed in the messages aren’t what was important, only the usernames of the accounts sending the messages, which demonstrated that the defendants were sharing and swapping firearms.

Phillip Andonian, Jeffers’s attorney, said that if the names aren’t important, then they could just be redacted because the messages, without the names, still depict a conversion about shared gun ownership.

DC Superior Court Judge Robert Okun decided not to rule on the issue and took it under advisement.

The trial is slated to continue on April 4.