DC Superior Court Judge Danya Dayson heard openings from parties in the jury trial for a carjacking and shooting defendant on Oct. 23.
Bernard King, 41, is charged with unarmed carjacking, unlawful discharge of a firearm, and threat to injure or kidnap a person. These stem from King’s alleged involvement in the unarmed carjacking and assault on a victim, the mother of his children, on June 7, at the 1900 block of 18th Street, SE.
The prosecution opened by playing security camera footage of the incident. Two cars can be seen pulling up, a male gets out of a black car, and opens the door to the other vehicle in frame. A woman can be heard screaming as she is “yanked out of her car” and thrown to the ground, according to the prosecution.
The video depicts the male getting in the woman’s car and driving down the block as she runs in the opposite direction. He returned moments later where he could be heard yelling at the woman, “You going to die!” The man in the video is King, alleged prosecution.
The prosecutor stated that the defendant and victim had known each other for a decade. The case is about, “how a relationship spiraled out of control,” according to the prosecution.
The victim ran to an off duty Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officer’s house “frantically banging and screaming” on her door. The prosecution said this officer and other eyewitnesses will prove, without a reasonable doubt, that King is guilty of all that he has been charged with.
Defense attorney Karen Minor claimed this case is “chaotic” with lots of moving parts, and that a single event has been viewed from multiple angles. She reminded the jury that the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt every element of every charge that they have brought against King.
Minor alleged that prosecutors will fail to meet that burden. Specifically, on the charge for unlawful discharge of a firearm, a weapon was never recovered from King, Minor insisted. .
She ended by telling the jury that prosecutors have claimed a crime has occurred, but that is not their job. Only the jury can decide if a crime occurred, and there is not enough evidence to prove that King committed all of the charges against him, according to the defense.
Parties are slated to reconvene Oct. 27.
