Witnesses Testify About Hostile Instagram Messages in Murder Trial

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The parties in a homicide trial questioned witnesses about the accuracy and completeness of key evidence before DC Superior Court Judge Michael O’Keefe on Aug. 5.

Bernard Matthews, 45, is charged with first-degree premeditated murder while armed, possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, unlawful possession of a firearm with a prior conviction, and carrying a pistol without a license outside a home or business. The charges stem from his alleged involvement in the shooting death of 22-year-old Diamonte Green on Feb. 16, 2021, on the 300 block of 33rd St., SE.

The landlord of Green’s girlfriend testified that he had provided the police with the surveillance video footage shown to the jury earlier in the trial. According to court documents, the footage showed Matthews’ movements before and after the shooting, except for the fifteen minutes immediately preceding the 911 call reporting Green had been shot.

A Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officer testified to downloading the video footage from the apartment building’s security cameras a week after the incident. He said the video was jerky because he wasn’t able to access the proprietary software that would make it play smoothly.

Matthews’ defense attorney, Marnitta King, asked the officer if he had told his supervisors that they needed to obtain the proprietary software. He said he hadn’t because he had other software capable of playing the video, although jerkily.

The officer said that the security camera was reporting a time that was approximately 44 minutes later than the actual time, so he downloaded footage that was timestamped 44 minutes later than the time he was looking for.

King asked the officer if he had any way of verifying that the video footage was actually taken at the day and time he was looking for. He said he didn’t.

A custodian of records from the Meta media company took the witness stand to certify the authenticity of Instagram messages the prosecutors had previously shown to the jury. Among these were a barrage of hostile messages Green sent Matthews’ son up until two minutes before the 911 call.

Green’s texts to Matthews’ son included, “u ah b**** cuh. Ah b**** come all the way down here to call your bluff u a b**** I’m see u out here” and, “u ain’t safe bullets ain’t got no name slim.”

An investigative analyst for the US Attorney’s Office (USAO) laid out in chronological order the messages among Green, Green’s girlfriend, Matthews, Matthews’ son, and the mother of Matthews’ son in the hours before Green’s death.

“An accurate representation of the communications of a person would include all their communications, correct?” King asked the analyst. He assented.

King pointed out that the records from Meta showed Green sending hostile messages to another individual who was identified only by their Instagram username. Although those messages were sent during the time period covered by the analyst’s report, they didn’t appear in the report.

The prosecution noted that Green stopped messaging that individual more than an hour and a half before the 911 call. During that time, Green sent approximately 32 messages to Matthews’ son.

The trial is scheduled to resume on Aug. 6.