Defendant’s DNA May Have Been Transferred to Sweatshirt, Expert Suggests

In an Oct. 25 jury trial, experts in DNA and ballistics helped contextualize several key pieces of evidence in a 2017 homicide case.

On Aug. 10, 2017, Robert Moses, 23, and James Mayfield, 22, allegedly approached the intersection of Montana and Saratoga Avenues, NE while armed with .40 and .45 caliber handguns. Collectively, the defendants allegedly fired over ten rounds at people standing on Saratoga Avenue. One of the bullets struck 17-year-old Jamahri Sydnor in the head as she was driving, killing her. Three other bystanders were also struck and injured by stray bullets.

The prosecution called an expert in orthopedic medicine and surgery, and a practicing surgeon at George Washington University Hospital. He recalled treating a man who was injured during the Aug. 10 shootings.

According to the expert, the man was already partly paralzed and rendered wheelchair-bound from having been previously shot in his back. When he heard gunshots near the Montana and Saratoga Avenue intersection, he promptly jumped out of his wheelchair. His leg then gave out, causing him to fracture his right hip and leg. The victim denied any loss of consciousness, neck pain, or head trauma but reported experiencing severe pain from these injuries.

Next, a DNA expert resumed his testimony from the previous day. The expert conducted a thorough review on the forensic reports conducted by a different expert, using computer software designed to analyze DNA. The software was specifically designed to disentangle complex DNA samples involving multiple potential people, and report how likely it was that each person’s DNA contributed to the sample.

According to the expert, when analyses were initially run on the sweatshirt, the software determined that Mayfield likely contributed to 8 percent of the DNA. It also found that a different individual accounted for 86 percent of the DNA on the sweatshirt’s interior.

The expert noted that Mayfield’s DNA matched the sweatshirt, as detected on the software. Still, he emphasized the inconclusive nature of the findings revealed by the software, claiming that he “can’t include or exclude [Mayfield] as a suspect.”

The expert added that primary contributors to a DNA sample are generally very likely to have actually worn or repeatedly touched the sampled item, whereas minor contributions sometimes indicate the contributors’ DNA was transferred onto the item. As such, the expert noted that Mayfield’s DNA may have been transferred to the sweatshirt.

During their cross-examination, prosecutors referenced the expert’s DNA analysis in which he wrote, “the wearer of the sweatshirt is more likely the 86% contributor.” Although the statement presumes one single wearer, the expert clarified that others may have also worn the sweatshirt, though their DNA may have degraded over time.

According to the expert, it’s possible that the DNA of the sweatshirt’s actual owner may have been washed off, leading them to only show up as the 8% contributor. He added that a different person may have worn the sweatshirt once while physically active and sweaty, and deposited enough DNA to show up as its primary wearer.

Next, prosecutors called a forensic firearm and toolmark examiner to explain the types of “rifling marks” left on gun casings after bullets are fired, as well as what makes each mark distinctive.

The expert was shown several sets of photos of cartridge casings and bullet fragments, and asked to relay his previous analyses. According to the expert, each set of casings was covered in similar “random imperfections,” referring to the aftermarks and impressions left by the gun when fired. He also found that the first set of casings matched a .40 caliber firearm, while the second matched a .45 caliber firearm.

Moses, 23, was arrested on Aug. 10, 2017, while Mayfield, 22, was arrested on Dec. 28, 2017. They are charged with more than a dozen counts each, including first-degree murder while armed, assault with the intent to kill and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence.

DC Superior Court Judge Maribeth Raffinan set the trial to continue Oct. 26.

Document: Homicide in Northeast

Metropolitan Police Department detectives are investigating a homicide that occurred on Jan. 21, on the unit block of 61st Street, NE.

According to a press release, at about 9:27 pm, officers located a 1.5-month-old Storm Serenity Frazier unconscious and unresponsive. She was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Prosecution Withheld Evidence for Four Years, Defense Says

During an Oct. 25 hearing, a murder defendant’s defense attorney argued that the prosecution withheld evidence that needed to be disclosed to the defense for four years.

Alonzo Lewis, 33, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder while armed, assault with intent to kill while armed against a minor, and three counts of possession of a firearm during crime of violence. He allegedly shot 40-year-old Jaquon Helm and 35-year-old Venius Badgett on the 4600 block of Galveston Street, SW inside the Gardens Apartments’ parking lot on May 26.

The prosecution said the evidence was never received.

DC Superior Court Judge Okun denied the defense’s request to bring in more evidence.

The case is still on course for trial, which was rescheduled from Nov. 2 to March 23, 2023.

The next hearing is set for Oct. 27.

Document: Arrest Made in Southeast Homicide

Metropolitan Police Department detectives have made an arrest in connection to a homicide that occurred on July 1, on the 800 block of Yuma Street, SE.

According to a press release, at about 2:33 pm, officers located 17-year-old Dennis Simms suffering from an apparent gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead on the scene.

On Oct. 25, 19-year-old Davon Alston was arrested and charged with first-degree murder while armed.

Document: Homicide in Northeast

Metropolitan Police Department detectives are investigating a homicide that occurred on July 12, on the 1400 block of Montana Avenue, NE.

According to a press release, at about 11:02 am, officers located 24-year-old Quion Shears suffering from apparent gunshot wounds. On August 13, Shears succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead.

Expert Witnesses Discuss DNA and Ballistic Evidence During Murder Trial

D.C. Superior Court Judge Marisa Demeo presided over parties during a three co-defendant murder trial as three expert witnesses testified before jurors regarding DNA and ballistic evidence.

Derek Turner, 31, and Ronnika Jennings, 44, are charged with first-degree murder while armed, possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, and conspiracy in connection to the shooting of 28-year-old Andrew McPhatter on March 5, 2017, on the 3500 block of Wheeler Road, SE.

The third co-defendant, 33-year-old, Duan Hill, is charged with conspiracy and obstruction of justice in this matter.

Turner is also charged with first-degree murder while armed for allegedly shooting 23-year-old Devin Hall on Jan. 7, 2017, on the 3500 block of 6th Street, SE.

During the Oct. 24 trial, an expert witnesses tested a black mask and a navy-blue jacket that were retrieved from the defendant’s car. DNA extracted from the mask matched Turner, while the jacket could not be analyzed.

“Due to the complexity of the mixture, a comparison could not be made,” an expert said.

Turner’s defense attorney, Michael Madden, cross-examined the witness, inquiring how a comparison could not be made if a sufficient quantity of DNA material was acquired.

The witness said the DNA obtained from the jacket endured environmental degradation, rendering it uninterpretable.

The prosecution then redirected the conversation, displaying photographs captured by one of the expert witnesses depicting cartridge casings and magazines scattered around the parking lot of an apartment complex where one of the shootings occurred.

More pictures obtained from the scene revealed a blood trail from the outside of the parking lot to the inside of the apartment. It also showed a black and gray North Face jacket from inside the apartment that the forensics team collected.

One of the expert witnesses displayed the black and gray North Face jacket to jurors, which bore suspected blood stains and a hole she presumed to be formed by a gunshot.

Before Madden could cross-examine the new witness, Judge Demeo adjourned the trial.

Judge Demeo ordered parties to reconvene on Oct. 25 to continue the proceeding.

Prosecutors Seek More Time For Test Results In Sex Abuse Case Of A 12-Year-Old Girl

On Oct. 25, DC Superior Court Judge Robert Okun rescheduled a sexual abuse case involving a DC man and his biological daughter, who was twelve at the time, to give prosecutors more time to receive results from testing.

The defendant is charged with first-degree child sex abuse after allegedly inappropriately touching his 12-year-old daughter.

Defense attorney Roderick Thompson said he was okay with the additional time that the prosecutors need to move forward with another IPA and trial readiness hearing.

On Aug. 5, 2021, a DC woman contacted the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) after allegedly receiving text messages from her 12-year-old daughter about her biological father touching her, according to court documents.

Documents state the victim told the Youth and Family Services Division the defendant told her to come into his room, get on the bed, and take her pants off. The defendant then began to rub his private part on her private area.

The victim then indicated that something came out of the defendant’s private area and went onto her leg.

The victim allegedly told the defendant she wanted to go with her mother when he began to curse and yell. That is when the victim texted her mother about what happened and deleted the messages because she was afraid the defendant would see the message between her and her mother.

The victim was instructed by her mother not to delete the messages because “it was evidence.”

Members of the Youth and Family Services continued their questions with the victim later discovering the defendant never penetrated her, but he did insert his penis into her mouth. The victim denied that the incident was recent and indicated he did these things when he was “drunk.”

The victim was unable to give a specified age as to when the abuse began.

However, she said he has assaulted her over five times by sucking on things like her chest and her private parts in his apartment on the 1200 Block of 18th Street, NE.

The next hearing is scheduled for Dec. 6.

Case Acquitted: Homicide Defendant is ‘Actually Innocent,’ Defense Attorney Says

This case was acquitted on Nov. 9, 2022.

This is the “scariest moment of my life as a defense attorney because he didn’t do it,” said Brian McDaniel during opening statements.

Mike Bidgell, 26, is charged with second-degree murder while armed, possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, and unlawful possession of a firearm in connection to the June 6, 2020, shooting death of 18-year-old Marquis Harrod on the 1300 block of Brentwood Road, NE.

After the prosecutor laid out their case during opening arguments on Oct. 25, Mcdaniel appealed to the jury in his opening by moving chairs across the courtroom, giving them a visual representation of what happened on June 6, 2020.

McDaniel mentioned a video of the shooting the prosecution had shown during their opening statements saying, “Thank god for the video.”

He went on to tell the jury the video shows Harrod approaching the defendant’s vehicle with a gun. McDaniel said the shooter was actually Bidgell’s brother who knew the victim.

“Even if he was the one who shot him, he would’ve been well within his right to do so,” saying the shooting was self-defense against the victim, who leaned into the window of the car with a gun.

The prosecutor showed the jury body-worn camera footage from the Metropolitan Police Officer who was the first to arrive at the scene.

During cross-examination, McDaniel asked the officer if she knew who was responsible for the shooting. She replied that she did not know who was responsible.

DC Superior Court Judge Milton Lee scheduled the trial to continue on Oct. 25.

Prosecution Presents Officers and Forensic Scientists As Trial Arguments Continue

A homicide trial resumed with three witnesses called in to testify regarding their role in the DNA extraction of evidence. The fourth witness was a detective on the scene.

Malik Holston, 20, is charged with first-degree murder while armed and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence in connection to the shooting of 15-year-old Gerald Watson on the 2900 block of Knox Place, SE on Dec. 13, 2018.

On Dec. 18, 2018, a member of The Department of Forensic Sciences (DFS) collected a student’s school schedule, a Helly Hanson jacket, a BAPE sweatshirt, a pair of shoes, three black masks and a cellphone from an apartment on the 2300 block of Hartford Street, SE.

Defense attorney Shawn Sukumar said there were many items not collected from the apartment. DFS members said they were given directions on what to collect from the apartment by other law enforcement.

A forensic scientist testified that she swabbed the interior wrist and interior neck parts of a jacket to test for DNA. There were also stains tested for blood, but the results were negative.

A member of the Metropolitan Police Department’s Fugitive Task Force testified to the arrest procedure.

Another witness from MPD said she was given two phones to extract data from. However, one phone was not functional, and the other phone was extracted.

The extraction resulted in over 5000 pages of data. From this extraction, the prosecution presented messages from the defendant’s phone to the court.

Prosecution stated they have about twelve witnesses remaining.

DC Superior Court Judge Rainey Brandt will resume trial on Oct. 26.

Defense Challenges Prosecution’s Link to Murder Defendant

In an Oct. 24 jury trial, the defense challenged an eyewitness on his initial description of a defendant, and an expert witness relayed statistical findings that weakly linked a sweatshirt to the defendant’s DNA.

On Aug. 10, 2017, Robert Moses, 23 and James Mayfield, 22, allegedly approached the intersection of Montana and Saratoga Avenues, NE while armed with .40 and .45 caliber handguns. Collectively, the defendants allegedly fired over ten rounds at people standing on Saratoga Avenue. One of the bullets struck 17-year-old Jamahri Sydnor in the head as she was driving, killing her. Three other bystanders were also struck and injured by stray bullets.

Moses was arrested on Aug. 10, 2017, while Mayfield was arrested on Dec. 28, 2017. The defendants are charged with more than a dozen counts each, including first-degree murder while armed, assault with the intent to kill and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence.

Before the jury was called, Mayfield’s defense attorney Veronice Holt introduced a motion to postpone a witness’ testimony, that was scheduled in afternoon, during which the prosecution planned to present a very small sweatshirt worn by Mayfield when he was arrested in December of 2017.

Holt said the prosecution intended to highlight Mayfield’s skinny frame, which matched a characterization put forth by a witness to the Aug. 10 shootings.

However, she said this description was inconsistent with Mayfield’s appearance when Sydnor was murdered in August 2017. By the time he was arrested, Mayfield had suffered from a medical illness that rendered him hospitalized for two months and caused him to lose substantial weight.

Holt added that the prosecution failed to give her advanced notice about their plans to present the sweatshirt, only introducing it to her after the trial had already begun. She asked that the witness’ testimony be delayed to give her time to construct an argument in response.

Holt maintained that calling attention to Mayfield’s small and dirty clothing, which she described as “something a homeless person would wear,” would unnecessarily embarrass him in front of the jury,

Prosecutors assured defense counsel that the sweatshirt would only be used to help the jury visualize Mayfield’s body size at the time and that no references would be made to its cleanliness nor Mayfield’s housing status.

DC Superior Court Judge Maribeth Raffinan denied the defense’s motion to postpone the testimony, concluding that evidence of Mayfield’s weight loss was not prejudicial to him as the defense would have the opportunity to contextualize Mayfield’s weight loss during their cross-examination.

An eyewitness, who saw someone shooting toward Saratoga Ave while he was driving on Aug. 10, 2017, described the shooter as having shoulder-length dreadlocks and wearing a purple patterned sweatshirt and a ski mask pulled up to his nose.

In her cross-examination, Holt referenced notes taken by the detective he spoke to, which did not include any mentions of the suspect’s hair. Still, the witness maintained that he did in fact mention the shooter’s hair in his initial account.

The defense called an expert witness in DNA and serology.

The expert conducted a thorough review on the forensic reports conducted by a different expert, using a computer software designed to analyze DNA.

The software was specifically designed to disentangle complex DNA samples involving multiple potential people, and report how likely it was that each person’s DNA contributed to the sample.

According to the expert, when analyses were initially run on the sweatshirt described by the witness, the software determined that Mayfield likely contributed to 8 percent of the DNA. It also found that a different individual accounted for 86 percent of the DNA on the sweatshirt’s interior.

The expert witness is set to continue with their testimony during trial on Oct. 25.

Document: Vehicle Sought in a Non-Fatal Shooting Offense

Metropolitan Police Department detectives are asking for the public’s help in locating a vehicle in connection to a non-fatal shooting offense that occurred on Oct. 24, on the 2000 block of 5th Street, NW.

According to a press release at about 5:54 pm, officers located one juvenile male victim suffering from apparent gunshot wounds.

Judge Takes Back Release Option While Defendant Is Pending Vehicular Homicide Case

After learning that the defendant is awaiting another hearing for a vehicular homicide on Oct. 24, DC Superior Court Judge Michael O’Keefe decided against releasing him.

Karlos Bibb, 22, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder in connection to the death of Jamya Williams on July 3 after causing a four-vehicle car crash.

According to court documents, Williams, 20, was traveling eastbound through the intersection of 14th and K Street NW when an Acura TLX traveling at high speeds of 60 to 70 mph going northbound on 14th street ran the red traffic light striking Wiliams.

Williams was found in her car unconscious and unresponsive. Williams was rushed to George Washington University Hospital for treatment where she later died from her injuries.

Witnesses and video footage from a nearby building and a dash camera identified Bibbs and another assailant getting out of the car shortly after the crash and fleeing on foot.

Bibbs is currently being held at the DC Jail pending the investigation for the homicide and a sentencing for assault with intent to commit robbery while armed and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence that occurred on Nov. 29, 2021.

In the 2021 incident, Bibb’s entered a parked vehicle from the rear left passenger door with a victim inside, according to court documents. Bibbs then grabbed the victim by the back of his neck and demanded he give up his wallet. The victim declined the demand.

Bibbs then took out a black 9-millimeter semi-automatic handgun and demanded again. The victim declined again.

In response, Bibbs began to hit the victim over the head and arm as they struggled for the weapon. The victim feared for his life and exited the car as the struggle continued. Bibbs continued to hit the victim as he lay on the ground outside of the vehicle prior to an officer’s arrival.

An officer, who was driving with his body-worn camera activated, saw Bibbs assaulting the victim. The officer activated his lights when Bibbs fled on foot. As Bibbs tried to escape the officer, he knocked himself unconscious.

Members of the local Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) found Bibbs lying there bleeding with a black 9-millimeter semi-automatic handgun. The victim positively identified Bibbs while being treated for his injuries at Howard University Hospital.

Defense attorney Brian Shefferman asked Judge O’Keefe to postpone Bibbs’ sentencing because of the pending hearing for Williams’ death.

Shefferman described the investigation into Williams’ murder to be very “voluminous in evidence.” Prosecutors have not presented a plea offer for Bibbs in the homicide case.

The prosecutor is willing to postpone this case to see if a plea will be offered.

Judge O’Keefe mentioned he was going to release the defendant with the hope that he understood his mistakes and would try to integrate back into society. However, those conditions were revoked until Shefferman provides an update on the homicide case.

The next hearing is scheduled for Jan. 17.

Document: Homicide in Northwest

Metropolitan Police Department detectives are investigating a homicide that occurred on Oct. 6, on the 1200 block of North Capitol Street, NW.

According to a press release, at about 1:07 pm, officers located four adult male victims suffering from apparent gunshot wounds. On Oct. 21, one of the victims was pronounced dead.

The decedent has been identified as 21-year-old Christian Mitchell.

Document: Arrest Made in a Non-Fatal Shooting Incident

Metropolitan Police Department detectives made an arrest in connection to a non-fatal shooting that occurred on Oct. 24, on the 100 block of Kennedy Street, NW.

According to a press release, at about 6:28 pm, officers found two adult males suffering from gunshot wounds.

On Oct. 24, 24-year-old Ojahri Hart and 19-year-old Yahweh Chambers were arrested and charged with assault with a dangerous weapon.

Judge Grants New Release Conditions For Homicide Defendant

On Oct. 19, defense attorney Anthony Matthews requested for the defendant involved in a drive-by shooting to have his home confinement conditions revised, since he is in full compliance with pretrial services.

Eric Smith, 23, was charged with first-degree murder in June of 2018 for the fatal shooting of Rondell Wills on the 200 block of 50th Street, NE. Wills’ death was the result of a drive-by shooting. He was not the intended target.

According to news reports, Wills, 38, died from a fatal gunshot wound in the neck because he was trying to protect his children when the shooting occurred.

Court documents identified Smith as the driver.

Matthews informed DC Superior Court Judge Maribeth Raffinan that he plans to conduct independent testing on the behalf of Smith.

The prosecutor indicated they will be also retest DNA in Smith’s case. Testing was already conducted before by the Department of Forensic Sciences (DFS).

Judge Raffinan revised Smith’s release conditions from in-person check-ins with a curfew from 12 p.m. to 8 a.m. to weekly check-ins with pretrial services one time a week via phone with the stay-away order still in place.

The next hearing is scheduled for Nov. 16.

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