Prosecutors Inquire About Permissible Actions Under Sanctions

By D.C. Witness Staff - February 25, 2019
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Suspects |

When prosecutors discovered the true extent of their sanctions in a murder trial they requested advice from the judge about how to proceed forward. 

El Hadji Alpha Madiou Toure is charged with first-degree murder while armed and first-degree sexual abuse, among other charges, for his alleged role in the stabbing death of 34-year-old Corrina Mehiel on the 600 block of 14th Street, NE in 2017. According to court documents, Mehiel’s wounds were consistent with torture.

During a hearing on Feb. 22, prosecutors asked DC Superior Court Judge Juliet McKenna about what they were permitted to say during opening arguments under their current sanctions. Judge McKenna set the sanctions after prosecutors neglected to hand over evidence regarding a rape that occurred weeks before Mehiel’s murder.

Defense attorney Jacqueline Cadman said the crime, which took place in Kalorama on March 3, had a lot of “striking” similarities to Mehiel’s murder.

According to Judge McKenna, prosecutors are not allowed to make any reference to Toure being the assailant in the March 3 rape. This includes the introduction of any evidence that may tie Toure to the other crime.

A prosecutor said that witch hazel was used to clean the victim of the March 3 rape, but the assailant asked the victim for rubbing alcohol. Toure was found with a bottle of rubbing alcohol on his person when he was arrested by police.

Judge McKenna said she would allow evidence that referred to the rubbing alcohol evidence or the witch hazel but not both.

Cadman says she intends to argue that the same person who commited the earlier rape murdered Mehiel, and that the assailant was not Toure.

Prosecutors were also asked to remove some of the photos that will be submitted into evidence, including depictions of Mehiel’s wounds, which Cadman called “excessive”.

The trial is scheduled to resume on Feb. 25.