Jury Finds Defendant Guilty of First-Degree Murder-Again

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A jury in the retrial of a murder defendant found him guilty for a second time on Dec. 4 before DC Superior Court Judge Robert Okun.

Mark Beasley, 52, was charged with first-degree murder while armed, two counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, assault with intent to kill, and unlawful possession of a firearm during a crime of violence for his alleged involvement in the fatal shooting of 39-year-old Darryn Conte, and the non-fatal shooting of another victim on the 400 block of Butternut Street, NW on April 26, 2015.

For a second time, a jury found Beasley guilty of first-degree murder while armed, assault with intent to kill while armed, possessing a firearm during a crime of violence and unlawful possession of a firearm.

According to court documents, an individual shot at a vehicle 13 times, nine of those shots striking and killing Conte and one injuring another. The victims in the vehicle were waiting for their friends to arrive and headed home from the Takoma Station Bar.

The jury found the defendant guilty of all charges in the retrial.

In 2019 the case was reopened after the defense successfully appealed on constitutional grounds that there weren’t enough Black jurors on the panel.

Throughout the retrial, the prosecution’s most compelling evidence was security camera footage detailing the event and the eyewitness account from Conte’s brother.

The brother went to the police station for an interview, and later, the police brought the witness back to identify the suspect. He allegedly picked Beasley out of a photo-array of nine “light-skinned bald” men, saying, in court, that this was “the person who murdered my brother.”

The defense’s main argument was the shooter wasn’t Beasley, attempting to create doubt due to eyewitnesses’ contradictory statements.

The prosecution displayed evidence of a jacket from the scene, which was allegedly recovered from Beasley’s apartment. The jacket was blue at the top with gray sleeves, matching the description of what a witness previously described what Beasley was wearing.

During cross examination, Beasley’s defense attorney Albert Amissah asked the witness if he recalled whether it had any pockets or a hood, but he did not remember. The witness requested to see the jacket a second time to clarify that there were no pockets or hood.

Beasley’s friend testified in the trial that Beasley had a gun and flashed it at Conte because earlier in the night Conte almost hit him in the face while dancing in the club.

On cross examination, Beasley’s other defense attorney Destiny Fullwood-Singh read the witness a statement he made to defense investigators in 2016 where he said Beasley never had a gun that night.

Fullwood-Singh also noted the witness had previously been convicted of child sex abuse, larceny, and unauthorized use of a vehicle. Fullwood-Singh also played security camera footage of the witness walking out of the club, which she said showed he did not ever get close enough to Beasley to see him flash the gun and that he was never near Beasley while the silver car was on the corner.

On redirect, prosecutors asked if he wrote the statement given to investigators and the witness said no, adding he just signed it because he felt that was what he was supposed to do.

Beasley’s original sentence was 40 years in prison with 5 years of probation in July 2017.

He is set for a new sentencing on April 11 for sentencing.

Jury Finds Defendant Guilty of First-Degree Murder–Again