Testimony by Special Agent Michael Easter started the trial Thursday for Delonte Wynn. In an attempt to make sense of it all, jurors asked if they could ask their own questions of the witnesses, and were ultimately denied.

Agent Easter specializes in tracking cell phone calls and text messages, using cell towers to determine the location of the caller. Easter provided the location of the victim, Darlene Bryant, Wynn and Wynn’s girlfriend throughout the many phone calls to one another on the days leading up to May 13. Based on the witness’ testimony, Wynn can be tracked having made his way back to Wheeler Road around the time witness’ claim Bryant was attacked. The cell phone records also indicated that the morning another witness Donnell Howard allegedly heard a conversation between Bryant and Wynn, there was, in fact, no record of them speaking.

Gilbert Allen approached the witness stand, and when he began to speak sentences became difficult to form. “Is this hard for you to talk about?” the prosecution asked, to which Allen responded, “yes… today, it is.” On the evening of May 13, Allen heard a loud knock on his door and opened it to find Bryant covered in blood and unable to communicate what had happened to her. Attorneys played the 911 call that Allen made to help his memory, in which Allen is heard saying “Darlene, Darlene… she’s passing out… she’s gone.” When asked, the witness claimed he did not know who had attacked Bryant or what had happened to her.

On this same day, a witness who lived in the Geraldine Apartments on Wheeler Road claimed to have seen Bryant just hours before her death when she asked to use the resident’s bathroom. “It’s hard being a woman, homeless, squatting in the streets,” the witness said when asked why she let Bryant into her apartment that day. From the time Bryant used the witness’s bathroom to the time the witness was speaking to the police about the victim’s death, she claims to have been listening to music and heard nothing in her hallways that sounded like an attack.

While used to support different arguments, DNA testing was referenced in both the prosecution and defense opening statements on Tuesday. An expert witness of forensic sciences was able to testify that the DNA collected from under Bryant’s fingernails “excluded” Wynn, meaning his DNA has not found on the victim. The defense made sure to confirm whether or not this ruled him out completely as the alleged attacker, to which the witness said no and that DNA testing can never be certain.

During another officer’s testimony a series of physical evidence, including pairs of pants, sweatshirts, and identification found on the floor of Wynn’s apartment was introduced.

A final witness was called to the stand. Chester Taplette knew Bryant from the many times she had bought cigarettes from him, as well as the time she stole his phone. When the prosecution learned that Taplette had become angry and possibly physical with the victim after the theft of his phone, they questioned his role in her death. The witness went on to claim that Wynn confided in him his anger with Bryant for taking his car, and not long after this conversation did Taplette look out his window and see Bryant collapse on the porch across the street.

The trial will continue Monday morning with the remainder of Taplette’s testimony.

The trial of Delonte Wynn, charged with the murder of Darlene Bryant, continued Monday and is expected to conclude this week.

Before jurors entered the room Monday morning, attorneys debated whether or not a key witness’ testimony was able to be readdressed since he claimed to not remember what the defense considered a vital piece of the puzzle. The trial on Friday adjourned for the weekend as witness Chester Taplette was in the midst of giving his testimony, and Judge Zoe Bush ultimately decided any questions to do with a prior witness,Donnell Howard, could be addressed to Taplette.

As Taplette continued his testimony, he claimed that Howard confided in him days following Bryant’s death. During this alleged conversation, Howard saidthat Darlene Bryant had been killed because she took someone’s car. Howard was arrested for separate charges shortly after this conversation, and Taplette proceeded to call the police with Howard’s claim.

An MPD officer, familiar with the 4300 block, provided the jury with a variety of evidence, including a map of the blood trail from the Geraldine Apartments, where Bryant was allegedly stabbed, to the porch where she collapsed. The witness also provided photos of a wash cloth that Bryant pressed to her neck to absorb the blood until it could no longer hold. Expert medical examiners reviewed close-up photos of the victim’s autopsy, which showed the gaping almost 3 inch-deep stab wound cutting through the back of Bryant’s neck. While not in the report, an examiner speculated that since Bryant’s blood showed recent use of cocaine, the pace at which the victim’s heart was pumping may have contributed to how quickly she lost blood.

Wynn’s role in the alleged murder has been continuously indeterminate when considering DNA evidence. A juice bottle found next to a pool of Bryant’s blood was used to collect fingerprints and DNA samples, and after a series of forensic scientists approached the stand, no one could confirm through the different analyses whether or not Wynn was present at the scene of the crime. According to the witnesses, neither the DNA nor the prints matched that of the defendant.

During what was supposed to be a 15-minute recess, attorneys hotly debated a series of texts to be used between Wynn, his girlfriend, and Bryant. The defense became concerned with certain text messages that might suggest an angry Wynn, or manipulate what could be perceived as motive. Judge Bush found most of the text thread to be relevant and, thus, permissible.

The trial will continue Tuesday morning with an expert criminal investigator and his analysis of Wynn’s cell phone records leading up to the event of Bryant’s fatal stabbing.

The trial for Delonte Wynn continued Wednesday, with a testimony by Officer John McElhenny who validated footage that appeared to show Darlene Bryant running down Wheeler Road seeking help.

Witnesses following McElhenny also attested to Bryant’s suffering, and to a masked suspect who fled the scene of the crime.

When a witness who fled the scene of the stabbing took the stand, she expressed her panic and unsureness as to whether or not to help the victim, who was running toward her and “bleeding from everywhere.” She claimed that in her panic, however, she noticed a man fleeing the scene in what appeared to be a homemade mask. Eventually, after calling 911, the witness returned to Bryant, who was dead.

Donnell Howard, another witness testified to suggest Wynn’s guilt. With shackled wrists, Howard said Bryant was a longtime friend, and around 10 a.m. on May 13, the two got high while Bryant confided in Howard that she had stolen from Wynn. The witness also claimed he overheard a phone conversation in which Wynn demanded the return of his property. Not long after Bryant confided in Howard did he see Wynn in a hooded jacket walk towards the building where the victim remained on the stairs. Moments later, Howard saw Wynn swiftly walk out of the same building wearing mask on his face and a knife up his sleeve, followed by screams from the stairwell.

The defense immediately opposed Howard’s testimony, arguing that the prosecution made promises to shorten his sentence and reward him $25,000 if his statements led to the conviction of Wynn. Howard is currently incarcerated for a separate case, and although his story has changed with every testimony, he has claimed time and time again that he was promised nothing. “You lie when you think it’s in your own interest,” the defense said to Howard, attempting to shift the blame. The defense proceeded by emphasizing a fight that broke out between the two the day before the victim’s death, Howard’s apathy towards helping Bryant when she screamed from the stairwell, and previous cases in which he has lied on record. The matter has been left up for debate.

MPD Officer Curtis Wyland was patrolling the area when he was flagged down by an unidentified woman on the street and brought to the victim. When the officer recognized a crime scene before him, he immediately checked for signs of life, taped off the area, and then followed the trail of blood back to the stairwell to see where the stabbing occurred.

Just as the day before, Bryant’s family sat in the court room as the defense and prosecution went back and forth. When pictures of the victim shortly after her death were shown to the jury, Bryant’s mother excused herself from the courtroom while her children sat and watched.

The trial will resume Thursday morning with the continued testimony of Detective David Evans, who met Bryant once before in her stairwell.

Nearly two years after the death of Darlene Bryant, and a year after he was arrested for her murder, Delonte Wynn’s trial began.

More than fifty jurors cycled through the courtroom on Tuesday morning, but only fourteen people were left to determine Wynn’s fate.

Before delving into the trial, one witness’s testimony was highly debated. The witness had been met with charges of drug possession and attempted robbery when the prosecution allegedly offered a shorter sentence and then a reward of $25,000 in return for assistance with the investigation. The defense took issue with the testimony, claiming that it was, instead, a “story” made up for the sake of his own benefit. Ultimately, Judge Zoe Bush decided the witness’ testimony could be used so long as the jury is aware of the offer made to the witness.

According to a series of testimonies given to the prosecution, Bryant lived her days essentially homeless, making due with a stairwell in an apartment complex on the 4300 block of Wheeler Rd. The prosecution said, noting Bryant’s family in the audience, that her homelessness was not because she lacked a loving home. Instead, her homelessness was a choice she made so as to not subject her mother and children to her drug use. This made Darlene Bryant’s life especially difficult, one in which resorting to theft became the easiest means of making a living, the prosecution said. It was theft that motivated Wynn to stab Bryant in the neck, they claimed.

The defense argued that the evidence will show Bryant did not, in fact, steal from Wynn. Instead, Bryant borrowed his car and safely returned it the following day. Therefore, Wynn had no motive to kill. Wynn’s attorney repeatedly said no physical evidence exists to convict Wynn of murder.

The first witness to be called to the stand was Darlene Bryant’s mother. Dolores expressed her love for her daughter, tearing up at the sight of a picture of Darlene the prosecution used as an exhibit. From realizing Darlene was gay to helping her battle drug addiction, Dolores stood by her daughter, raising her two children who patiently sat in the audience. She admitted that Darlene had a reputation for stealing in order to pay for her drug addiction, and that her daughter was always in a place of danger. The last time she saw her daughter was the same day she was found dead.

The trial will resume Wednesday morning, proceeding with the testimony given by Officer Mcelheny of the Metropolitan Police Department. Mcelheny has patrolled the 4300 block of Wheeler Road “hundreds of times,” enough times to know which cameras would have caught the alleged crime on video. After some deliberation as to whether or not the cameras were able to capture enough footage, the trial came to a halt. The prosecution ended after showing footage of the victim sprinting down Wheeler Road holding her neck.