Officer says Knight lied to police about seeing murder suspect

By D.C. Witness Staff - February 22, 2018
Court | Homicides | Suspects |

The prosecution in a murder trial questioned a Metropolitan Police Department officer Feb. 21 to show that Maricco Knight, who is charged with being an accessory to murder while armed, lied to officers when he claimed that he had not seen murder suspect Dominique Williams for about a month.

Knight told officers, who forced their way into his apartment on the 4000 block of Minnesota Avenue, NE, on Dec. 16, 2015, that he hadn’t seen Williams since mid-November. In addition to not seeing Williams, Knight also told officers that he heard about the fatal shooting of Marcellus Green on Sept. 19, 2015. According to the officer, Knight was never told about a shooting or Williams’ connection to any shooting in Southeast D.C.

The defense argued that the situation coerced Knight into saying something about the shooting involving Williams.

Williams is charged with first-degree murder while armed.

In addition, an eyewitness, who was Green’s neighbor, testified to seeing Steven Pugh, who accepted a plea deal for the homicide, drive a 2008 Honda Accord on the night of the shooting. Police said the Accord was the vehicle used to administer the drive-by shooting.

The witness said that although he couldn’t identify the shooter, he saw a shooter lean out of the window behind the front passenger seat and extend both arms over the top of the car to fire four shots.

A forensic DNA analyst said Williams’ DNA was found on a styrofoam cup inside the Accord. Although the defense argued that it was possible Williams’ DNA was placed on the cup, the prosecution argued it was more likely that Williams’ DNA got onto the cup because he drank from it.

The trial is expected to continue on Feb. 22