Multiple Eyewitnesses Can’t ID Shooter in 2016 Murder

By D.C. Witness Staff - September 27, 2018
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Suspects |

On the second day of a murder trial, three of the prosecution’s witnesses could not positively identify the man who shot another man in the southeastern quadrant of the District of Columbia. 

Babajide Pittman is charged with second-degree murder while armed for allegedly shooting Anthony Young on the 600 block of L Street, SE, in 2016.

On Sept. 25, two witnesses told the jury that they saw a man extend his arm at a car before they heard shots. Another witness, who didn’t see the shooting, said he saw a man pacing on the corner of L Street before hearing gunshots. All of the witnesses said they couldn’t verify that Pittman, 31, was the man they saw. 

Along with the lack of positive identification, the defense also motioned for a mistrial on the grounds that the jury’s objectivity was compromised because the defendant’s ex-wife said the defendant was incarcerated during parts of their marriage. District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Danya Dayson told the ex-wife to avoid mentioning previous jail time or convictions before she gave her testimony.

The defense also said noise from the victim’s family caught the attention of jurors.

Judge Dayson told the prosecution that while she is sympathetic to the uncomfortable nature of certain evidence presented, emotional outbursts would jeopardize the ability to move forward.

“I saw the jurors react yesterday,” Anthony Matthews, Pittman’s defense attorney, told the judge on the third day of trial, Sept. 26. “This wasn’t just sobbing. It was a mix of pain, anguish, anger, extreme emotion. The kind that can’t be ignored. I don’t think the jury can put that out of their minds.”

Judge Dayson acknowledged that she noticed two separate occasions when jurors reacted to disruptions coming from the audience. The second of which almost every juror turned around to see.

“There is not a manifest injustice that would justify a mistrial at this point, but I cannot stress enough that means, ‘at this point,’” Judge Dayson said.

The jury also heard from Young’s girlfriend, who was picking him up at the time he was shot.  The girlfriend, who was apparently browsing Facebook on her phone, said she did not see who shot Young.

She told the jury that as Young, 27, got into the car she heard a popping sound.  The girlfriend was also shot in the leg. 

The trial continued on Sept. 27.