Jury Finds Defendant Guilty After 2 Mistrials

By D.C. Witness Staff - May 2, 2019
Court | Featured | Homicides | Suspects |

After two mistrials, a defendant was found guilty of shooting a 15-year-old boy in 2015.

On May 2, a jury found 26-year-old Derryck Decuir guilty of second-degree murder while armed for shooting Malek Dayvon Mercer on the 2800 block of 28th Street, SE. Decuir had been tried twice before, however, both trials resulted in mistrials after the juries could not come to a unanimous decision regarding his murder charge.

The prosecution said Decuir became enraged by a homophobic comment that was made after he said he admired Mercer’s belt. According to the prosecution’s theory, Decuir followed Mercer off a bus and shot him in the neck.

A witness, who testified in a previous trial, said he was with Decuir and heard one gunshot. The witness said he crouched, looked around and saw Decuir zipping up a backpack near Mercer, who was on the ground.

The prosecution said Decuir’s self-defense claim doesn’t make sense because Mercer was shot in the back of the neck. The prosecutor said Decuir also tried to cover up the shooting by enlisting help to get rid of the gun and lied to police during initial interviews.

“Derryck Decuir murdered a child, a 15-year-old child,” the prosecutor said during opening arguments.

But, the defense told the jury that Decuir fired in self-defense after seeing Mercer pull a shotgun out of his duffel bag. 

“He fired in fear. He fired in self-defense,” defense attorney Lee Goebes told the jury. “MPD’s investigation was sloppy. It was incomplete. Because of that, it failed to uncover the truth.”

The defense called a witness who said she was with Mercer and his friend that night. She said she saw a shotgun that had duct tape on it. While she didn’t see it in Mercer’s hands, she said she saw someone put the shotgun in a duffel bag.

Another friend of Mercer’s said he didn’t see a shotgun in the teen’s duffel bag. However, he said he knew Mercer owned one.

Decuir took the stand April 29 and said he was at a bus stop with two of his “cousins” when two teenagers walked up, one of which was Mercer. However, Decuir said he commented on Mercer’s belt and denied feeling any anger toward the teen who “snickered” at a homophobic remark by one of Decuir’s friends.

Decuir told the jury that he boarded the bus and sat in a “sideways seat in the back” behind Mercer. Decuir said his group planned on going to a 7/11 and they got off the bus at what they thought was the closest stop, along with the two teens. After getting off the bus, Decuir said he had to relieve himself and walked away from his friends for privacy.

“I was walking. Malek and [his friend] were in front of me. As I’m walking, they looked back. The second time when they looked back again, Malek had a shotgun in his hand,” Decuir said. Decuir said he pulled his gun from his pants and fired at Mercer.

Decuir said that before he fled from the scene, he saw a shotgun in the grass next to Mercer. However, police never found a shotgun on or near the scene.

Decuir is scheduled to be sentenced on July 23.