Murder Defendant Accused of Killing Baby Starts Trial Next Week

By D.C. Witness Staff - September 11, 2019
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Juveniles | Suspects | Victims |

A trial is set to begin on Sept. 16 in a case of a man accused of killing a two-year-old boy. 

James Embre is charged with felony murder, first-degree cruelty to children and second-degree cruelty to children for his alleged role in the death of Aceyson Aizim Ahmad on the 3400 block of A Street, SE on April 17. According to court documents, Embre, 26, was involved in a romantic relationship with Ahmad’s mother. 

During jury selection, which took place on Sept. 11, a large part of the vetting on jurors was on biases towards mental health.

On Sept. 9, a prosecutor and defense attorneys discussed possible limitations for selecting members of the jury pool with DC Superior Court Judge Juliet McKenna.

All parties agreed that since there would be multiple witnesses with mental health complications on the stand, any jurors that were selected should not have an existing bias on mental illnesses.

Johnathan Zucker, Embre’s defense attorney said he did not care if the jurors knew the witnesses suffered from mental illnesses. Instead, Zucker said he wants the jurors to be able to accept the witnesses’ testimonies without a bias.

According to court documents, on April 17, 2018, after picking up Ahmad from daycare Embre, 26 went into Ahmad’s bedroom, which the child shared with his older sister.

Embre told the girl to leave the room and then began beating Ahmad until he was vomiting, according to the documents. The child was not conscious when he arrived at a local hospital.

Ahmad’s sister told police that she saw Embre hit Ahmad after she was told to leave the room. She also said that Embre had hit both of them multiple times before.