33-year-old Derrick Wright, a resident of Upper Marlboro, Md., was fatally stabbed on the 1300 Block of Florida Avenue, NE during the early morning hours of March 24.
Convicted murderer appeals verdict, says he was in Md.
A man convicted of second-degree murder while armed for a fatal shooting that occurred 20 years ago recently testified that he was in Maryland with his girlfriend at the time of the homicide.
Venlonte Bethea, 43, is in the process of appealing a guilty verdict reached in 2002 for the homicide of Deante Lacay Howe that occurred on the 700 block of Malcolm X Ave, SE on Sept. 21, 1998.
During a motions hearing, Bethea said he was not satisfied with the work of his previous attorney, Michael Lasley, because he failed to subpoena several witnesses who would’ve testified to Bethea’s innocence.
According to Bethea, a neighbor could invalidate the testimony of one of the prosecution’s key witnesses. During the murder trial, the witness testified that she saw Bethea shoot the victim from a neighbor’s window. However, that neighbor told Judge Craig Iscoe March 22 that he was not home and “there is no way physically possible” for the woman to have been in his residence during the time of the incident.
Neither Bethea’s neighbor nor his girlfriend were called to testify during the trial.
Assistant United States Attorney Pamela Satterfield said Bethea did not say he was in Maryland during the trial. Satterfield also said the neighbor could not be sure the witness wasn’t in his home because he wasn’t there.
Satterfield said the prosecution will likely call Lasley as a witness at a status hearing on May 1. Judge Iscoe ordered the prosecution to provide a status report to his chambers by April 17.
Document: 26-year-old fatally shot in SE
Travis Courtney Ennis, 26, was fatally shot on the 2900 Block of Langston Place, SE on March 21.
Judge finds probable cause for co-defendants charged in NE homicide
Co-defendants in the shooting death of 27-year-old Arthur Thompkins were recently found to have probable cause in the homicide.
Thompkins was allegedly shot to death in the front seat of his pickup truck on the 5400 Block of Hunt Place, NE on Oct. 17, 2017. The Metropolitan Police Department found thirteen shell casings in the bed and cab of the truck.
Judge Danya Dayson ruled that Markale Moore, 29, had substantial probability for first-degree murder while armed. Judge Dayson said she made her ruling from testimony from a witness who was riding with Thompkins. The witness said Moore, 29, shot Thompkins. Her ruling was also based on Moore telling another witness, “I did it because it had to be done,” in reference to the shooting.
In addition, Judge Dayson said she found probable cause to believe that Tyrone Harris aided and abetted Moore with the homicide.
The lead detective in the case said the night allegedly began with Harris storming onto the 5300 Block of Jay Street,NE, located in the Burrville neighborhood, angry at rumors that he and Moore were shooting at each other.
While on the street, Harris spoke to Thompkins and another person briefly. He eventually met Moore on Jay Street. The two men spoke before Moore began to walk toward Hunt Place, the detective said.
Witnesses said they saw Harris give Moore a gun shortly before the shooting. Witnesses also said they saw Harris drive next to Moore in a dark colored sedan. The sedan is confirmed as being on the scene from nearby surveillance cameras. It is not clear if Thompkins circulated the rumors.
The judge ordered both men be held without bail. The judge also said she would recommend Harris for a transfer to the Correctional Treatment Facility so that he could take advantage of life and job skills programs.
The case is waiting to be presented to a grand jury. A felony status conference is scheduled to be held on June 27.
GPS tracks murder defendant traveling throughout D.C. within hours of shooting
A GPS tracker shows one of the defendants in a 2014 murder trial traveled from one corridor in the city to another immediately after allegedly shooting Willard Carlos Shelton.
A witness told the jury Tyrone Height, who, at the time, was on probation for an unrelated crime, was located at the scene of the shooting on the 2500 block of Pomeroy Road, SE on Aug. 31, 2014, around the time Shelton, 38, was killed. Height’s device showed him leaving the scene and traveling to Northeast D.C. in the early morning hours on Sept. 1, 2014.
Height, 25, and James Young have been charged with first-degree murder while armed.
Additionally, a firearms expert testified that shell casings and damage to nearby cars showed bullets were more than likely coming from one direction, which invalidates any claims of self-defense.
Document: Homicide on Buena Vista Terrace
Carl Gray died March 16 from wounds he obtained from a shooting in 2017. The Metropolitan Police Department found Gray, 25, along with another man in an apartment on the 3100 block of Buena Vista Terrace, SE.
Document: Stanton Road experiences 2nd homicide in a week
The Metropolitan Police Department found Aujee Tyler, 22, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds on the 3500 Block of Stanton Rd., SE on March 19. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Prosecution impeaches witness’ testimony in 2014 murder trial
The prosecution recently impeached the testimony of James Young’s neighbor during a murder trial.
Young and Tyrone Height have been charged with first-degree murder while armed for shooting Willard Carlos Shelton on the 2500 block of Pomeroy Road, SE on Aug. 31, 2014.
Young’s neighbor repeatedly told the prosecution March 19 that she didn’t remember specific events, including Young, 24, and Height, 25, forcing their way into her apartment.
Instead, the neighbor told the jury that she thought of Young as her son and didn’t want him to get into trouble.
According to court documents, the neighbor previously told the grand jury that she told the men she was angry with them for kicking her door in.
Metropolitan Police Department documents stated that a gun was found in the neighbor’s apartment, but the neighbor told the jury that she had no idea it was there. However, the prosecution noted an earlier testimony where the neighbor told the grand jury that she had a conversation with Young about a gun he left in her apartment.
In addition to the neighbor, the prosecution also showed videos of Young speaking with his brother while detained at the D.C. Department of Corrections.
In the videos, Young directed his brother to threaten a potential witness’ boyfriend on Facebook, so the witness would not testify.
The trial is expected to continue on March 20.
Judge finds defendant had probable cause in girlfriend’s homicide
Superior Court Judge Craig Iscoe recently ruled there was probable cause for 49-year-old Bernadette King‘s boyfriend to murder her.
Judge Iscoe said March 15 there was probable cause with substantial probability that Tylor, 41, committed the murder because he gave the Metropolitan Police Department’s investigating detective contradictory statements among other defensive behaviors and words as they began their investigation.
The Judge said probability was also shown because there was no sign of forced entry to the apartment. Witnesses told the police that they did not hear any barking from the dogs owned by the decedent and the defendant.
The judge also said it looked coincidental that Taylor, who was the only other person with keys to the apartment, lost his keys around the time King was killed. The court suggested the keys could have been planned as a cover up to the crime.
The police were also called to the apartment because of a physical altercation between King and the defendant a week before the homicide, but charges were not filed.
Judge Iscoe questioned whether the prosecution had enough evidence to prove a murder conviction without reasonable doubt. He also allowed the defense to have a continuance to determine how they will proceed. A felony status conference is scheduled on June 6.
The case has not been seen by a grand jury as of March 19.
Document: Stanton Road homicide
The homicide of Matthew Thomas, 22, occurred on March 17 on the the 3000 Block of Stanton Road, SE.
Counsel delivers closing arguments for Moore’s homicide
Counsel delivered closing arguments March 15 in the 2015 murder trial of 32-year-old Tyrone Moore.
According to the prosecution, Harold Marshall, 40, made the conscious decision to kill Moore. Moore was in a violent relationship with Marshall’s sister when he allegedly stabbed him on the 1600 block of F Street, NE on March 22, 2015. Marshall was charged with first-degree murder while armed.
Assistant United States Attorney Sarah Santiago said that when Moore got into an argument with his girlfriend on the night of his death. Marshall, who was sleeping on the couch at the time, got involved. Santiago said the altercation between Marshall and Moore became physical.
Marshall’s sister and Moore’s female friend, who was also staying at the apartment, separated the men. However, when Marshall realized he was bleeding, Santiago said, Marshall proceeded to allegedly stab Moore.
The prosecution also cited testimony from Marshall’s son to invalidate Marshall’s claim that he acted in self-defense or to protect his sister. According to the son, his aunt was trying to hold the bedroom door to keep Marshall from entering.
Marshall allegedly fled the crime scene with the knife, changed his shirt and got rid of the murder weapon. He was arrested a few hours later.
The defense told a vastly different story of how the night unfolded. According to Marshall’s attorney, David Knight, Marshall reasonably believed he had no choice but to go through the bedroom door to protect himself and his sister.
Knight said that Marshall’s sister and the female friend’s testimonies could not be believed because their accounts of the altercation changed over time. Knight also said that Marshall’s son was only 14 years old at the time and misconstrued details about the night.
According to Knight, Moore not only threw the first punch, but also initially pulled a knife on Marshall and stabbed him twice.
Knight said that Marshall asked Moore to leave and had reason to believe that his sister was in trouble when she was locked in the bedroom.
According to the defense, Marshall and Moore struggled over the knife before Moore was stabbed. A knife was found in the living room, but it did not have a sufficient amount of DNA that could be tested on it. The defense said Marshall’s blood on the walls of the apartments prove that he was defending himself.
The jury is expected began their deliberations on March 20.
Document: Park Road homicide
According to the Metropolitan Police Department, 43-year-old Andre Junior, a resident of Upper Marlboro, Md., was shot and killed on the 1500 block of Park Road, NW. The police arrested 27-year-old Robert Edward Green on March 15.
One question goes unanswered in 15-year-old’s homicide: where is the shotgun?
After nearly two weeks of arguments in a murder trial, both the prosecution and defense claim the red herring in their cases is a missing shotgun.
Derryck Decuir is standing trial for allegedly shooting Malek Mercer on the 2800 block of 28th Street, SE on June 16, 2015. Decuir, 25, is claiming that he shot Mercer, 15, in self defense after the teen began to pull a shotgun on him. But, the prosecution says Decuir was the first aggressor.
On the night of the homicide, Mercer and his friend walked a girl to a bus stop. The girl was the only person with Mercer that night to testify that he put a shotgun in the duffle bag he was carrying.
After walking the girl to the bus stop, Mercer and his friend proceeded to go back home when they ran into Decuir and his crew. Apparently there was a joke about Mercer’s red Versace belt, which Decuir seemed to admire.
According to testimony, Decuir and his crew got off at the same bus stop as Mercer and his friend to allegedly go to a 7-Eleven, even though the bus they were riding stopped directly in front of the store.
Decuir said the teenager began to pull a shotgun out of his bag as he turned towards him.
“I shot him before he could shoot me,” Decuir told the jury, adding that after he shot Mercer he fell to the ground out of shock. When he got up Decuir said he looked at Mercer and told the teenager he was sorry and ran away.
But, during a demonstration with a sawed off shotgun — not related to the case — the prosecution showed March 13 that given the fact that Mercer was left-handed, walked to the right of his friend and the angle of the bullet, it was impossible for the teen to have pulled a shotgun on Decuir who was walking about 8 feet behind the young men. The prosecution stated that Mercer didn’t even turn 120 degrees before the bullet severed his spine. The shotgun was not found at the scene, nor was Mercer bruised by falling on a shotgun. Mercer only sustained abraisons that were on his head as a result of hitting the ground.
According to prosecution’s closing argument, Decuir, who was 22 at the time of the homicide, intentionally shot and killed Mercer, referencing a “dead-on look” Decuir’s friend described seeing on the defendant’s face after he shot the teenager. The prosecution insinuated that Decuir’s look along with leaving the scene and not calling 911 did not show remorse.
The prosecution presented a video clip of Decuir and his friends during a rap session that was recorded hours before the homicide. On the video, the defendant mentioned he had a 30-bullet magazine. The prosecution said a ruger pistol and an extended magazine were used in the homicide. Decuir told the jury that he owned a ruger pistol, extended magazine and other guns. The Metropolitan Police Department found the ruger pistol and extended magazine years later in a grassy area in Southeast D.C. Decuir said he asked his friend to hide the pistol.
The prosecution also stated, several times, that Decuir was a liar. According to the prosecution, Decuir lied to the investigating detective, his mother, stepmother, girlfriend, and also to the jury, citing that Decuir wasn’t carrying the pistol with a regular clip in his pants like he claimed, but the ruger with an extended magazine in a backpack he was wearing. Decuir said he lied about shooting Mercer, at first, because he didn’t know that killing someone in self defense was legal.
Decuir said that he was in close proximity to Mercer because he was going to pee by a tree on the corner of Naylor Road SE and 28th Street SE. However, the prosecution refuted the statement by showing the jury a photo of the line of view from the bus stop. The tree, which was located on the south side of an apartment building, was not in sight. Even though Decuir claimed he had to pee, he ultimately didn’t pee in the area, choosing instead to walk about 20 minutes home after the shooting.
“Is he a good enough liar to beat this case,” the prosecution asked the jury.
The defense’s closing argument pushed self defense, citing that the main question in the case was whether Mercer pulled a shotgun on Decuir. According to the defense, the prosecution did not show without a reasonable doubt that Decuir was not acting in self defense when he shot Mercer.
The defense said that the police’s inefficient investigation was the reason the shotgun had not been found, citing that it could have been taken by any of Mercer’s friends that night. The defense referenced an Instagram photo that shows Mercer with a shotgun and cited Mercer’s mother’s testimony when she said her son normally carried a backpack, not a duffle bag. The defense also questioned the credibility of the prosecution’s witnesses, which included a few of Decuir’s close friends.
There were a lot of assumptions in the homicide case, the defense said.
The jury began deliberations on March 14.
D.C. Teen Homicide Rates
Was Harold Marshall protecting his sister?
One of Harold Marshall‘s siblings testified March 14 that Marshall feared Tyrone Moore would kill their younger sister.
According to his sister, their aunt was killed by a boyfriend when they were kids, and Marshall, 40, often told her that he feared the same thing would happen to their little sister. Moore was apparently involved in a violent relationship with Marshall’s younger sister.
Marshall has been charged with first-degree murder while armed for allegedly stabbing Moore, 32, during a fight on the 1600 block of F Street, NE on March 22, 2015.
The older sister told the jury that Moore and her younger sister’s relationship was “unhealthy and domestic,” and “they shouldn’t have been together.” She cited incidents in which Moore allegedly kicked her sister in the ribs and punched her while she was pregnant with their child.
On the night of his homicide, Moore apparently went to his girlfriend’s apartment drunk. Moore allegedly started fighting with his girlfriend, which led Marshall, who was sleeping on the couch at the time, to get involved. The older sister said she was at the apartment, but left before the fight broke out.
Moore’s friend was also in the apartment. She and Marshall’s sister broke up the first fight between the men, pulling them to different rooms in the apartment.
The older sister also testified that her younger sister said Moore was fighting her when Marshall broke through the back bedroom door and ended up stabbing him. Marshall said he acted in self-defense.
The prosecution questioned the legitimacy of the older sister’s testimony, referencing that she attended all of her brother’s court hearings and is interested in the outcome of his trial.
The trial is expected to continue on March 15.