Opinion ID: 2797658
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: On May 19, 2009, around 4:00 p.m., victims Washington, Wingard, Clipper, and Williams were standing with a group of friends on North Capitol Street between R Street and Randolph Place, N.W. Shortly after 4:00 p.m., Clipper crossed North Capitol Street to go to the liquor store on the southeast corner of North Capitol and R Streets. When he exited the store, he saw Wingard standing in front of a carryout store on the northeast corner of North Capitol and R Streets. He observed Terry, driving a gray Camry with two or three other passengers, go north on North Capitol 4 Street, turn right onto R Street, where Wingard was standing, and stop at the light on Lincoln Road, close to the carryout. Clipper saw Wingard staring at the car. Both men then returned to their group. Shortly thereafter, a tan Explorer driving south on North Capitol Street, which contained two males and two females, passed the group. One of the females, “Rakiya,” stuck her head out the window, said “fuck you[,] Jameeka,” and gave her the finger. Washington laughed it off, explaining at trial that she and Rakiya had previously been in fist-fights over a boy named Quinton, but that she had not seen Rakiya in a year and did not think they were still in a fight. At approximately 4:20 p.m., a black male walked southbound on North Capitol Street toward Washington’s group. He pulled a black ski mask over his face with one hand as he walked, and raised a gun with his other. When the shooter was about fifty feet from the group, he fired a volley of about ten shots. Clipper was hit in the leg but was able to hop to the median strip in North Capitol Street where he collapsed. Another member of the group arched his back as though he was hit. The shooter then took several “deliberate” steps toward the group and fired 5 a second volley of shots. 3 When he was finished, the shooter ran back toward Randolph Place. Washington was talking on her cell phone when the first volley of shots was fired. She returned to her conversation, heard more “pops,” then turned around and saw everyone running away. Washington ran towards her car on R Street to get away, but was shot four times—in the chest, wrist, and ankle. Wingard, who was near Washington, tried to move both of them out of the shooter’s way. Wingard was shot three times in the forehead. After the shooting, Washington collapsed near Wingard in front of the church on the northwest corner of North Capitol and R Streets. Clipper had collapsed in the median; he had been shot in the left shin and the left foot, and the bullet to his left shin had broken his fibula or tibia.4 Williams collapsed in front of the carryout with two gunshot wounds to his left forearm and two to his chest, near his collarbone. Fifteen 9 mm shell casings, all fired from the same gun, were later recovered from the scene. Three Metropolitan Police Department (“MPD”) officers, Francisco 3 Four eyewitnesses described hearing two separate sets of shots with a pause in between. Only Clipper did not think there was a break in the shots. 4 It is unclear from the transcript which bone was broken. 6 Montano, Christopher Cartwright, and Brian Hollan, were executing a search warrant in an unrelated matter one block north of the scene when they heard the gunshots on North Capitol Street. Officer Montano ran out and saw Ronald Taylor, who was napping in his truck on Randolph Place, when the shooting occurred, pointing “hysterically” at a red van that was heading west down Randolph Place towards First Street, N.W. Taylor told Officer Montano that the van had just been involved in the shooting. Meanwhile, Officers Cartwright and Hollan arrived in an unmarked police car while the van was still on the block and a chase ensued. The van turned right onto First Street heading north, and though the officers turned on their emergency equipment, the van did not stop. The chase continued for twenty to twenty-five minutes, and ultimately involved over twenty police cars. During the chase, the police lost sight of the van for a matter of seconds when it went behind the attendant’s booth at a Chevron gas station at 6250 Belcrest Road in Maryland. Police described the van as driving recklessly, at highway speeds through residential streets, sometimes driving into oncoming traffic. When the van finally crashed into several parked cars in Hyattsville, Maryland, police found appellant Robin in the driver’s seat, Terry in the passenger 7 seat, and co-defendant Deandre Banks (“Banks”) 5 in the backseat. As police pulled Robin from the car, Robin tossed a black knit ski mask under the van. DNA analysis revealed that there was genetic material from three or more individuals on the ski mask, and Robin and Terry could not be excluded as the source of that material—a random match probability for both men was one out of 25,000 in the African-American community. The van was a stolen Dodge Caravan. After the three men were arrested, police recovered a second black knit ski mask and hat, as well as a black silk hat, from behind the attendant’s booth at the Chevron gas station. DNA analysis of the black knit hat and ski mask matched Terry, and DNA on the black silk hat matched Banks. Police never recovered the gun used in the shooting. Police photographed Terry, Robin, and Banks to document what each was wearing that day. All three photographs were presented as exhibits at trial. Terry was wearing a black T-shirt and light blue jeans. Terry’s blue jeans had a pattern embroidered on the seat. Terry was a 5’11” tall, medium-complected black male with shoulder-length dreadlocks or braids and a light mustache. Robin was wearing a green long-sleeved dress shirt and had a bandage on his face. He was a black male with a medium complexion, a stocky build, short hair, and a mustache. 5 Banks was tried jointly with Terry and Robin, but the jury hung as to all counts against him. 8 Banks was wearing a black T-shirt with white writing that was turned inside out, and dark jeans. Banks was 6’3” tall with short hair, a short beard, and a mustache. He was also a black male with a medium complexion. At trial, victims Washington, Wingard, and Clipper testified about the shooting and the injuries they suffered. Williams did not testify, though the government called the physician who treated him at the hospital to testify to the extent of his injuries. The jury also heard testimony from several officers involved in the car chase, four eyewitnesses to the shooting, a cooperating government witness, Keith Daniels (“Daniels”), to whom Terry had allegedly made inculpatory statements in the days after the shooting, and two defense witnesses called to impeach Daniels’ testimony. The government also presented physical evidence in the form of the DNA analyses that linked Terry, Robin, and Banks to the ski masks and black hat in the van. In particular, Daniels, who was Terry’s next door neighbor, testified that several days after the shooting Terry came over to his house and told him, in the presence of his nephews, that not only had he been involved in the shooting, but also why he thought he might get away with it. Terry was impeached with a cooperation agreement that he entered into in this case, his prior convictions for three different 9 assaults, including AWIKWA, and his admission to having previously cooperated with the government in another homicide case involving Curtis Bunn, a witness for the defense, in this case.