Case Acquitted: ‘She Was Reaching for a Lifeline,’ Says Defense Attorney in Closing Statements

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Tierra Posey was acquitted of all charges on March 20, 2024.

On March 19, in DC Superior Court Judge Marisa Demeo’s courtroom, a murder defendant concluded her testimony saying she had to shoot the victim to survive.

Tierra Posey, 24, is charged with second-degree murder while armed, possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, and carrying a pistol without a license outside of a home or business for her alleged involvement in the fatal shooting of 21-year-old Tia Carey on Jan. 6, 2020, at a gas station on the 3700 block of Minnesota Avenue, NE.

According to court documents, a physical altercation allegedly occurred between Posey and Carey at a gas station. The altercation escalated into a shooting, in which Posey allegedly produced a gun and fired two shots. Carey was severely injured and, despite quick medical intervention, succumbed to her injuries.

According to Posey, she was confronted by Carey repeatedly with threats of violence while she was in Carey’s boyfriend’s car. Posey only emerged from the vehicle after Carey got into the backseat and allegedly spit in her face and punched her in the back of the head.

“I got out to try and stop her from hurting me,” said Posey when asked why she got out of the car. “I tried to fight her off me.”

She described the fight as “a commotion” in which she could not see who was attacking her as her hair was pulled and her head was punched.

“I could only see the ground, feet, legs,” she said. “I was all by myself, so I felt trapped.”

She said Carey said, “B***h, I’mma kill you,” which caused Posey to fear for her life.

“I got away for a second,” she said, referring to the fight. “I reached into the car and I grabbed the gun and I just fired it.”

Posey then testified to her experience in a 2018 shooting that killed 18-year-old Chicano Phillips, who, according to Posey, “[Phillips] was like my best friend. We were really close.”

Tearfully, Posey explained that an unknown gunman broke into an apartment she and a group of people were visiting and opened fire. Posey hid in a back room until the gunfire stopped, and emerged to find that everyone had fled, except for Phillips, who had been shot in the head.

“I was traumatized,” she said. “That’s not something someone should be around, or see.”

On cross examination, the prosecution asked if Posey was “afraid of gun violence,” after her experience in two violent shootings. When she agreed, prosecutors pointed out that she was the one to introduce a firearm to the dispute at the gas station and she never tried to run away or ask for help. They also pointed out Posey did not threaten Carey with the gun or fire into the air, and instead aimed for her head.

“Everything was moving so fast,” Posey said. “I just picked up the gun and fired. I didn’t think about where I was aiming. I didn’t have time to ask for help.”

On redirect, Posey’s defense attorney, Kevin Gardner, asked her to repeat what Carey said right before Posey picked up the gun.

“She said that she was going to kill me,” said Posey. “And I believed it.”

In their closing statement, the prosecution argued Posey had not been acting in self-defense when she shot Carey in the side of the head because she was “clearly not in imminent danger.”

“The fight was over. [Posey] took true and steady aim at her head,” the prosecution said. “Carey never even saw it coming.”

The prosecution argued that, despite Carey being the instigator of the fight, Posey’s use of deadly force was unnecessary. They showed the video surveillance footage of the gas station in which Posey and Carey were separated for “at least four seconds,” before Posey fired.

“You should watch the video, and you should assess: was this necessary?” the prosecutors said to the jury.

Posey was also the only one to testify about hearing Carey threatening her life. The prosecution argued that Posey’s motive for firing was not fear but rather embarrassment over being confronted.

“The only injury [Posey] had was a bruised ego,” the prosecutors argued. “She wanted to send a clear, unequivocal 40-caliber message to Tia Carey’s head: ‘That’s why you don’t mess with me.’”

The prosecution asked the jury to find Posey guilty of all charges.

For the defense’s closing, Gardner stated Posey’s previous experience with violent altercations led her to act defensively when confronted by Carey.

“She was not reaching for a gun,” he said. “She was reaching for a lifeline.”

Further, Gardner directly criticized the prosecution’s actions towards Carey’s boyfriend, who took a plea deal in connection with this case after spending 11 months in jail. Gardner argued that the boyfriend gave false testimony to prosecutors to get out of jail and referred to the plea deal as “blackmail.”

“For 11 months he did not tell the prosecution what they wanted to hear,” Gardner said. “[The prosecution] dangled it in front of him and said, ‘Do you want to get out of jail or not?’ That’s something that should trouble all of us!”

He argued the boyfriend’s reluctance to testify while on the stand was out of fear of perjuring himself if he made statements contradicting his plea deal. Specifically, Gardner argued that the boyfriend testified to not hearing Carey threaten Posey because it was in his plea.

“You know he wanted to tell the truth,” Gardner said. “He had no choice but to agree with whatever they said.”

He then asked the jury to question why the prosecutors only called witnesses who were related to Carey when there were multiple other witnesses to the incident. He argued the prosecution did not meet their burden of proof to claim Posey wasn’t acting in self-defense.

“Posey did not grab the firearm until she thought her life was in danger,” Gardner argued. “If there was a stick in there, she would’ve grabbed a stick!”

He asked the jury to “judge Posey by the person you saw on the witness stand,” and find her not guilty on all charges.

The jury is slated to begin deliberations March 20.

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