The testimony of the prosecution’s key witness, a man already convicted for the same murder said the two defendants were like brothers to him, began in an Oct. 31 homicide trial.
The witness pleaded guilty to second-degree murder earlier this year in connection with an Aug. 10, 2017, shooting at the intersection of Saratoga and Montana Avenues, NE that killed 17-year-old Jamahri Sydnor. As a condition of his plea, he agreed to testify against the two men he identified to police detectives as his co-conspirators, 23-year-old James Mayfield and 23-year-old Robert Moses.
The two defendants are charged with 13 and 25 counts respectively, including first-degree murder, drive-by or random shooting, assault with a dangerous weapon, robbery while armed and conspiracy, in relation to the same incident.
The witness, Mayfield and Moses were all a part of the Langdon Park Crew, the group whose ongoing feud with a crew in the nearby Saratoga neighborhood was determined as the cause of Sydnor’s murder, according to Mayfield.
The witness remains held at the D.C. Jail pending sentencing.
The “beef” between the two crews had been going on, he said, since “before I was born, before I remember.”
The prosecutor presented photos of the witness’s extensive tattoos, which included several mentions of his affiliation with the crew, such as an arm tattoo that read “IIIK” in reference to the 3000 block of several of the North-South streets in the Langdon Park neighborhood. They also included a tattoo that spanned both arms that read “DEATH B4 DISHONOR.”
The prosecutor asked the witness to clarify what dishonor might look like —“what I’m doing right now, basically,” he replied, referring to testifying against fellow members of his crew. Many in the courtroom audience shook their heads or otherwise expressed dismay at this.
Though being in the same crew had kept the witness close with Mayfield and Moses, he said the three of them met at a recreation center in Langdon Park, where they would go to play sports and “stay off the street.”
As they grew up, he said he was especially close with Moses and his family. When he could not watch his kids, Moses would occasionally watch them for him—the witness has five children with four different women with whom he described as “co-parenting.” He called Moses’ mother “Ma,” he said, and even stayed with them in their basement at several points, including at the time of his arrest.
“We were together every day,” he said of him and Moses. “We’d stay together as much as possible.”
The Langdon Park Crew made rap videos together, calling themselves “Filthy Gang” in reference to a crew member who died several years ago who they called Filthy. The prosecutor presented the cover of a Filthy Gang mixtape as well as several stills from a music video the group made.
Using these images, the witness identified well over a dozen members or friends of the Langdon Park Crew, by their government names, their nicknames and when applicable, the number the crew had given them—he was “2,” for example, while Mayfield was “64” and Moses was “8.”
In several of these images, a black hoodie with jagged, red and white detailing can be seen being worn by various people. This hoodie, which the forensic scientist testified earlier to having tested for DNA, was the Master Piece hoodie that had been the subject of much discussion in previous hearings.
Mayfield’s defense attorney, Veronice Holt, pointed out in a Thursday hearing that her client’s DNA represented only 8 percent of the DNA found on the hoodie, and that that fact may indicate he was not the most recent wearer. The hoodie was found in the gold Honda that the witness was arrested while walking away from, and that was reported to have been the car the three used to get to and from the site of the shooting.
Prior to calling witnesses, the prosecutor informed DC Superior Court Judge Maribeth Raffinan that she anticipated direct examination of the witness would take “the next couple days.”
The trial is set to continue on Nov. 1.
