Opinion ID: 2827456
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Identifying Defendant

Text: At trial, each of the aforementioned witnesses—Godwin, Tisdel, Howell, McGaughy, and one of the passengers in Godwin’s vehicle on September 21—testified about their recollection of Defendant’s assault rifle. It was an AK-47, known on the street as a “chopper,” that could be used with either a standard magazine or a drum. According to their testimony, Defendant carried this gun around all of the time, such that the witnesses were familiar with the weapon prior to either of the shooting incidents that are related to this case. They were each shown the photographs from the music video, and each confirmed that the photographs depicted Defendant holding the assault rifle that he had used against them. The government also introduced ballistics evidence showing that the bullet casings recovered from the August 28 and September 1 shootings were of the type that would be fired by an AK-47, and that the casings from both incidents were expelled from the same gun. Defense counsel aggressively cross-examined Godwin, Tisdel, and Howell, respectively, about their individual decisions to withhold information from the police immediately following the carwash drive-by shooting. Yet, based on the other evidence admitted at trial, the jury convicted Defendant on each count of being a felon in possession of ammunition.