Re-Opened Case for Man Convicted of Killing His Best Friend is Placed Under Seal

By Zakiyia Ortiz [former] - November 16, 2022
Appeal | Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

During a Nov. 15 hearing, DC Superior Court Judge Marisa Demeo placed a homicide case under a private seal when the prosecutor said an important document was missing, which resulted in a vacated trial.

Eugene Burns, 30, was convicted in 2017 of first-degree murder while armed, carrying a pistol without a license, and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence for fatally shooting his best friend  Onyekachi Osuchukwu III while on release from jail.  The case was reopened on appeal in 2020.

Following the prosecution’s motion to postpone the trial date, Judge Demeo vacated the trial after speaking with both parties privately.

Instead, a status hearing was scheduled for Dec. 13, so counsel could set a new trial date.

In July 2017, the prosecution ruled Osuchukwu’s death as a  premeditated murder following a drug-related dispute, according to court documents. Allegedly, Burns began to plot the murder of his friend, inviting him into DC to do so. On Nov. 14, 2015, the victim was lured into Burns’ mother’s house, where Burns allegedly shot him five times. 

Osuchukwu was found by the police on the 2900 block of 2nd Street, SE in November 2015. He had succumbed to gunshot wounds by the time emergency workers arrived.

After fleeing the scene, Burns returned the next day with relatives to discover Osuchukwu dead.

In the first trial, after seeing all the evidence and hearing a testimony from Burns himself, who changed his original story to self-defense, the jury sided with the prosecution and convicted him of all charges.