Jury Finds Murder Defendant Not Guilty

By D.C. Witness Staff - June 6, 2019
Court | Featured | Homicides | Suspects |

After deliberating for two days, a  jury acquitted a man from murder  charges stemming from the death of a 23-year-old man. 

Kenneth Bellamy was found not guilty of first-degree murder while armed and  possession of a firearm during a crime of violence in connection to the fatal shooting of 23-year-old Michael Tyrone Jones, Jr. on the 3500 block  of East Capitol Street, SE in December of 2015. Bellamy’s third charge for carrying a pistol without a license outside a home or business was dismissed during closing arguments. 

As a result of the not guilty verdict, an order to release Bellamy was issued on June 5.

During opening arguments on May 22, the prosecution laid out its main theory — Bellamy, 35, killed Jones over stolen marijuana. An eyewitness for the prosecution told the jury that he saw Bellamy confront Jones about stealing his marijuana. The witness said that, as the two began to “tussel,” Bellamy pulled, what looked like, a gun out of his pocket. The witness said he started running away from the scene as soon as he heard gunshots.

However, during cross examination, the defense pointed out that the witness told police multiple versions of the story.

The witness told Norris that he initially lied to police because he was trying to protect himself. However, Norris refuted the claim, saying the witness was lying to protect someone else.

According to Norris, the witness told a grand jury that the person who shot Jones was the same person who sold him marijuana earlier that day. Norris said the witness was protecting the true shooter because if he implicated the shooter he would be implicating himself.

Instead of the marijuana story the witness testified to, Norris said the murder stemmed from PCP, a mind altering drug. Norris said Jones obtained PCP and had it stored in a mason jar. He said Jones was bragging about the PCP and intended to sell it.

Norris said the witness set Jones up to be robbed and killed. Apparently, Jones was a known drug dealer. Norris said the witness and the true shooter conspired together.

On May 30, the jury heard recordings of phone calls where Bellamy said he didn’t shoot Jones and that the surveillance video capturing the incident didn’t show him shooting Jones.

Defense counsel told the jury that the surveillance footage doesn’t actually show Bellamy shooting Jones. Instead the footage shows Bellamy extend his arm and Jones getting shot. It doesn’t show the actual shooting.

Another witness, who used to live in the neighborhood where the shooting took place, told the jury that she was leaving her residence at the time of the shooting and saw a group of boys. She said one boy, with tattoos on his face, was holding a gun to another boy’s head. Apparently, multiple boys in the group had tattoos on their faces.

The defense also highlighted the witness’s inconsistent testimony. According to the defense, the witness was previously shown a photo of Wayne Joaquin, who was another suspect in the shooting.

Apparently, the witness said Wayne was “absolutely and positively the person [she] saw.” However, during the trial, the witness denied having said this. Instead, she said she was only sure that Joaquin, who is now deceased, was one of the people she saw, but didn’t know whether he was the one holding the gun.

Bellamy didn’t testify.

Counsel’s closing arguments June 3 were almost entirely about the testimony of the eyewitness who identified Bellamy as the shooter.

The defense’s closing argument reiterated that the witness, who admitted to perjury, was unreliable because of his history of dishonesty in the case.

Even so, the prosecution relied on the witness to tie their case together because he provided the only evidence that could place Bellamy at the scene of the crime. 

Bellamy’s DNA was not found on the crime scene.