Will 2014 murder trial continue?

By D.C. Witness Staff - March 28, 2018
Court | Homicides | Suspects |

After seven days of arguments from the prosecution, the outcome of continuing a murder trial became uncertain when a detective from the Metropolitan Police Department incriminated the defendants during his testimony about an eyewitness.

James Young and Tyrone Height have been charged with first-degree murder while armed, felony murder while armed and other charges, including obstruction of justice, in the shooting death of Willard Carlos Shelton, 38, on Aug. 31, 2014. The homicide occurred on the 2500 block of Pomeroy Road, SE. Young, 24, and Height, 25, were apprehended on Sept. 3, 2014.

The officer testified March 27 to why an eyewitness in the case ended up staying in temporary housing, supplied by the MPD, for an extended period of time.

“We learned about a possible threat on [the witnesses] life,” the officer told the jury in response to the prosecution’s question.

Defense attorneys Joseph Caleb, Height’s lawyer, and Ferris Bond, Young’s lawyer, objected to the statement because they said they believed it unfairly accused their clients of the same behavior the young men were already on trial for.

As a plausible solution, Judge Milton Lee gave the prosecution and the defense an opportunity to write a cautionary instruction for the jury so they would not acknowledge the statement.

However, the defense stressed that an instruction could not remedy the situation. The defense requested that Judge Lee order a mistrial because the statement placed bias on the jury to favor a guilty verdict.

Judge Lee said he will decide if he will give the jury a cautionary instruction or call a mistrial on March 28.

On March 28, Judge Lee ruled that the trial would continue. He also ruled that special instruction on the detective’s testimony would not be given to the jury per the defense’s request.