One question goes unanswered in 15-year-old’s homicide: where is the shotgun?

By D.C. Witness Staff - March 15, 2018
Court | Homicides | Suspects | Uncategorized |

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.