Victim’s father and friend testify as week two of Jonathan Taylor’s trial begins

By D.C. Witness Staff - June 21, 2017
Court | Homicides | Suspects |

At the beginning of the second week of Jonathan Taylor’s trial, the government presented its final witness and rested its case.

Before the day’s official proceedings began, a juror was dismissed. The juror reported feeling unsafe remaining on the jury, and said they heard some threatening comments.

Taylor is on trial for the murder of Dexter Motley.

A very close friend of the victim, recounted his experiences on the night of August 13, 2014 to the jury. The witness ran into his friends on a street corner and began to have a conversation with them. About five minutes later, a gold car drove past the witness and his friends suspiciously slow. The people in the gold car all looked at the witness and his friends and then turned onto to another street. The witness got a weird feeling and decided to go get some cigarettes. On his way to the store the witness heard several gunshots and ran back to where his friends were. On his way back he saw the same gold car that he saw earlier speed and weave in and out of traffic from the scene. On the way back he saw one of his friends, who had been shot. The witness then carried his friend to a safe spot around the corner and continued to look for his other friend, Motley. The witness saw Motley in the fetal position on the ground with a gunshot wound to the head.

An expert witness testified about the capabilities of shot spotter technology. In his testimony he talked about the accuracy of shot spotters, which helps determine where exactly the shots were fired as well as how many shots were fired. The expert testified that on the night of August 13, 2014 he determined that five rounds were shot over the span of seconds at 9:32 p.m. near the crime scene.

After the jury was dismissed for the day, Taylor’s attorney motioned to have all of the charges against him dropped. He claimed that there was no evidence that point to his client being in the car, and no testimony saying that Taylor had a gun on the night of the shooting. He also motioned to have the obstruction of justice charge dismissed. The prosecutors claimed that the defendant’s confession to one of the witnesses implicates him in this crime. There is also video evidence and witness testimony that the defendant was in possession of a gold car at the time. After considering both sides, Judge Jose Lopez denied the motion.

The trial is set to continue on Tuesday June 20, at 10 am.