Preliminary Hearing For 3 Teen Murder Defendants Begins

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March 3 marked the first day of a hearing to determine if a murder case has enough evidence to go to trial. 

The three co-defendants, 17-year-old Nelfy Hernandez, 16-year-old Trey Prillerman, and 19-year-old Deandre Levy are charged with first-degree murder while armed for their alleged roles in the shooting of 17-year-old Taijhon Wyatt, Jr.

A Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) detective testified that the vehicle identified as the suspected car used during the murder was stolen from an Uber driver hours before the shooting occurred.

The detective said the car unique because it was missing hubcaps on the passenger side. Video surveillance revealed a car matching the description circling the area around the shooting minutes before it happened. 

The detective also said that, based on ballistic testing, the shell cases found from the scene and the shell cases found from the vehicle did not match.

He suggested that there must have been at least two guns.

The detective also said that no witness could identify how many people were in the car or could describe the people in the car during the shooting. 

Due to time constraints, the proceedings did not finish. Judge Danyna Dayson scheduled the hearing to pick back up on March 8.

On Aug. 20, 2020, the three allegedly shot blindly into a group of juveniles from the inside of a vehicle on the 5500 Block of 9th Street, NW.

Sarah Gebrengus wrote this article

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