Opinion ID: 2715888
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Conflicting Accounts

Text: The charges in this case arose from events that took place at 2439 25th Street SE on December 9, 2009. The police discovered complainant Christopher McClain wrapped in duct tape on the floor of a vacant basement apartment. Two sharply differing stories were presented to explain the precursory events, one by McClain for the government and one by appellant for the defense, which may be summarized as follows. 1 The jury convicted appellant of one count of kidnapping while armed, D.C. Code §§ 22-2001, 22-4502 (2012 Repl.), and one count of armed robbery, D.C. Code §§ 22-401, 22-4502(2012 Repl.). The jury either acquitted or hung on the several remaining counts against appellant and on all of the charges against Dickens. 3 McClain, a self-employed mover, testified that he went to that address around 7:30 p.m. on December 9, 2009, to provide a moving estimate for a woman named “Nikki.” As he entered the building, he was dragged into the vacant apartment by appellant. There appellant, with the help of two other men who were already in the apartment, bound and robbed McClain at gunpoint. Several witnesses in the area reported they had seen men matching McClain’s descriptions running from the area and police shortly found appellant by himself, out of breath and covered in sweat, not wearing workout clothes but claiming he was out jogging. Once police brought appellant to the scene for identification, McClain identified him as the man he had been “tussling” with inside the apartment. Police also stopped co-defendant Dickens who was running away from the area, but appellant could not identify him, explaining that the other assailants had been wearing masks. Dickens—who was employed as the maintenance man at the building where the incident took place and had keys to all the locks in the building, including the vacant apartment—had his wife’s SUV located behind the apartment building with his wallet, the cell phone, and duct tape in a tool box in the rear cargo area. There was conflicting testimony between the officers about whether the keys were in the ignition with the motor running and the doors were open or the ignition was turned off and the doors were locked. 4 In sharp contrast, appellant testified that McClain, a previously convicted drug dealer, was robbed and assaulted during a drug deal, and that McClain lied about appellant’s role in the incident to hide his own illegal conduct and to curry favor with authorities, given his criminal record and his other ongoing criminal matters.2 Appellant testified that he and McClain were acquainted through Larry McMichael, a club promoter for whom appellant worked security. Larry called him at his home the day of the incident, asking if appellant could work that evening, and he said yes, assuming that Larry was referring to security work at the club. When Larry called back with details, appellant learned that the job was accompanying a mutual acquaintance, McClain, to a drug transaction as “back-up.” When appellant followed McClain into the empty apartment, a man pulled a gun on McClain and himself, and a second man frisked and disarmed McClain. A third man appeared who tried to rob and restrain McClain while the gunman kept both men in his sight until someone announced that the police were out front, causing the assailants to flee. Appellant denied that Dickens was any of these three men. Appellant explained that he fled the apartment before police arrived because he 2 Mr. McClain admitted that at the time of the incident in this case and his November 2009 drug arrest, he was on probation in three different counties in Virginia, and faced up to twenty years in prison if he violated probation by breaking the law. 5 was on probation and feared arrest. Police searched appellant but found none of the items McClain claimed were taken during the robbery.