Murder Defendant Asked for Help to Move Guns, Girlfriend Says

By D.C. Witness Staff - April 19, 2019
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Suspects |

A murder defendant’s girlfriend told the jury April 18 that he asked her to help him move guns and ammunition from his stepmother’s house after he was arrested.

Derryck Decuir is charged with first-degree murder while armed against a minor for allegedly shooting 15-year-old Malek Mercer on the 2800 block of 28th Street, SE in 2015. Decuir, 26, has been tried twice before. Both trials resulted in mistrials after the jurors could not come to a unanimous decision regarding his murder charge.

The girlfriend said Decuir used to call her nearly every day from prison. She said, at one point, he asked her to give someone a message about moving a “dog.” The girlfriend said she later realized he was referring to a gun. She also said he talked about “toenail clippings” and “dog food,” which she said were code names for bullets and ammunition.

During a previous trial, the prosecution also said that Decuir used the code name “jerseys” to refer to guns.

During the trial, a Metropolitan Police Department officer told the jury that she spoke with Mercer’s friend. She said Mercer’s friend told her that three men “followed them off the bus.”

The friend gave descriptions of the suspects and mentioned that they were pointing at Mercer’s duffel bag, the officer said.

According to the prosecution’s theory, Mercer was waiting at a bus stop with his friend when they ran into a group of three men. The prosecution said Decuir made a comment about Mercer’s belt but became enraged when Mercer “snickered” at his response. Decuir followed Mercer and eventually shot him in the neck.

The defense says Decuir fired in self-defense after he saw Mercer pulling a shotgun out of his duffel bag.

The trial is scheduled to resume on April 24.

Rebekah Herman contributed to this article.