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By
D.C. Witness Staff
- August 1, 2018
Court
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Homicides
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Suspects
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After jury selection, prosecutors teased footage of an interview a defendant had with police during opening statements in a murder trial July 31.
Sean Green is accused of shooting Derrick Black in the summer of 2015. Green is charged with felony murder while armed. According to testimony from a Metropolitan Police Department officer, 24-year-old Black’s body was run over by a car and dragged in the street on the 3300 block of Georgia Ave, NW after he was allegedly shot.
The prosecution said Green’s taped police interview had three phases: Green attempting to concoct an alibi, Green attempting to negotiate and Green attempting to “minimize” his involvement in the crime.
On the footage, Green is seen telling detectives that he had “nothing whatsoever” to do with Black’s death. Later, the defendant said he might have known how his DNA ended up at the crime scene. Green also asked police to become an informant and requested a “pardon.”
According to a prosecutor, in the third and final phase of the interview, Green, 27, said a man named “Mike-Mike” threatened to kill him if he did not kill Black. Later, Green said “Mike-Mike” didn’t actually threaten to kill him but instead promised him money and drugs. Green also said the person’s name was not “Mike-Mike”, but “Man-Man.”
“He made a choice,” the prosecutor said. “He didn’t have to approach Derrick Black, but he did… He didn’t have to run over Derrick’s body and shoot it again, but he did.”
The prosecutor also called attention to a gun magazine with Green’s DNA on it, which was recovered from the crime scene. The magazine was capable of holding 10 cartridges. There were three cartridges left in the magazine and seven casings were found at the scene, according to the prosecutor.
Green’s defense attorney said, during his opening statement, that a key witness for the prosecution was high on K2, a synthetic drug, when she saw the crime. The attorney said that both the woman and another witness said the shooter had long dreadlocks.
One witness, who failed to identify Green in a photo array, later said Green was the shooter after calling the police and asking about reward money, according to Green’s attorney.
Green’s attorney also referenced the police interrogation video, saying the first portion of the video is Green alone in the room, “mumbling and rambling and cursing.” He said Green has mental problems from a car accident in 2006.
The trial is scheduled to resume on Aug. 2.