Lost Video Evidence Leads to Murder Case Dismissal

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Prosecutors in a homicide case alerted DC Superior Court Judge Michael O’Keefe that they were dismissing a defendant’s case following allegations of lost evidence, during a June 10 hearing. 

Ronnie Melson, 42, also known as “Snobs”, was charged with first-degree murder while armed and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence for allegedly shooting 41-year-old Demetrius Jones. The incident occurred on Nov. 6, 2020 on the 1700 block of Gales Street, NE.

According to court documents, Melson had an altercation with Jones a week prior to the incident. A witness overheard Jones stating he allegedly had plans to stab Melson due to a previous dispute. In the incident relevant to this case, and allegedly in retaliation for the stabbing, Jones suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the chest, abdomen, back, arms, and left leg.

The request for dismissal stemmed from a June 3 hearing where Melson’s defense attorney, Jason Tulley, urged for dismissal of the case citing unavailability of lost evidence, including surveillance footage of the shooting. He stressed that the footage was lost due to MPD’s gross negligence. 

At that hearing, prosecutors contended that the video evidence was lost accidentally. 

However, due to the evidence issue, the prosecution proposed dismissing the case, and that outcome was accepted by the court and defense. 

As for the motive behind the dismissal, the prosecutor simply stated that after a review of all matters of the case, they would like to dismiss without prejudice. 

Judge O’Keefe granted the dismissal, which still allows the prosecution to refile charges against the defendant if any updates are made.