Opinion ID: 8487230
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Government’s Evidence of the Crimes

Text: At the subsequent joint trial of the five co-defendants, 7 the government presented considerable evidence linking all five appellants to one or both of the mass shootings. The government’s strongest evidence in proving its case, included:
Testimony from Nathaniel Simms regarding both conspiracies: Simms testified as a government witness to the events leading up to and during the three shoot-ings on Alabama Avenue, at the Wingate Apartment complex, and on South Capitol Street. Simms testified that, around midnight on March 22, 2010, he, Orlando, and Best gathered firearms and drove to Alabama Avenue after learning that Sanquan had been robbed. -Simms testified that he stayed in the car, while Orlando, Best and Sanquan approached a group on Alabama Avenue and opened fire. With regard to the shooting on March 30 on South Capitol Street, Simms testified that he, Orlando, Bost,'- and Best had planned to shoot Howe’s associates in retaliation for the prior shooting of Orlando. He' testified that, before the South Capitol Street shooting, the four of them rode in a minivan to the Wingate Apartment complex, where Bost and Best unsuccessfully attempted to rob Nelson of ’his firearm. Simms further testified that he, Orlando, Bost and Best then rode to South Capitol Street, where he, Bost, and 'Best all fired weapons into a crowd of people wearing remembrance shirts for Jordan Howe. Best’s confession to Martaraina Salazar: The government presented, testimony from Martaraina Salazar, Simms’s girlfriend, that, at about midnight on the night of the South Capitol Street shooting, Best came to her home and picked up a bag that Simms had left there. Salazar testified that Best. later returned and, as they smoked marijuana, he told her details of the shooting. He told her that Simms shot the AK-47 while Bost shot the .45 pistol, that Orlando drove the van, and that a girl had been shot in the head. Best also told Salazar that he hoped that Orlando and Simms would not implicate him. Salazar testified to Best’s confession at trial. Best’s confession to his mother and arrest: On April 22, 2010, police executed a series of search warrants based in part on the information the officers received from Simms. One of the searches was conducted at the home of Best’s mother, Laverne Best. Best called and told his uncle about the search and his uncle picked him up. Best denied any involvement in the shootings to his uncle, but was crying and nervous. Best’s uncle urged him to turn himself in, but Best got out of the car and ran away. Best’s mother Ms. Best, also spoke to Best on the phone and urged him to turn himself in, but Best refused. On April 26, police located and arrested Best. The police brought Ms. Best to the police station, where she, Best,, and a detective spoke in an interrogation room. Once the detective left the room, Best and his mother had a private conversation, which was captured on video. Ms. Best asked her son, “[Y]ou didn’t hurt no one, huh?... Did you?... Huh?... So that’s true out there, huh? Huh?” There was a dispute as to whether Best nodded in response, but the recording of the conversation demonstrated that Best did appear to slightly lower his head and raise it back up, and then look at his mother and move his head again. After this non-verbal response, she asked him, “What for? Cause he shot Orlando?” Best then started crying, lowered his head again, and asked his mother for'a hug, and she responded, “Yea Jeffrey, but I don’t know why you Would do something like that ..see what Orlando got you into.” At trial, Ms. Best was. shown the video of her conversation with her son, but she testified that she had not seen her son nod his head or admit involvement. She was impeached with her grand jury testimony, however, during which Ms. Best stated that she had observed her son nod his head. 8
Minivan: Police searched the minivan and recovered seven AK-47-type casings. Inside the front of the van, police found Orlando’s cell phone, which contained a text message from a number associated with Simms, stating “Funeral on Tuesday.” A mask and a hat containing DNA mixtures, including Orlando’s DNA, were recovered from between the front.seats. A cigarette butt containing Simms’s DNA was found near the rear passenger seat. A swab from the front passenger side door of the minivan contained a single-source partial profile, from which Bost could not be excluded. DNA testing, however, did not reveal Best’s nor Williams’s DNA inside the minivan. Clothing: A DNA sample from the jacket that Officer Dyke recovered during the chase revealed a mixture of at least three individuals; while the swabbing revealed no major contributor, the major contributor of the cutting matched Best’s DNA. A mouth cutting and forehead cutting from the mask recovered behind the church contained mixtures of at least two people’s DNA, of which Bost was the major contributor. Forensic evidence of the shell casings and bullets: Shell casings from the .380 pistol that Sanquan fired were recovered from the scene of the Alabama Avenue shooting. The AK-47 thrown during the chase following the South Capitol Street shooting also matched the casings recovered from both the scene of the Alabama Avenue shooting and the South Capitol Street shooting. The 9mm and .45 caliber casings, recovered from the shooting of Tavon Nelson, were fired by the same-weapons that left casings at the South Capitol Street shooting.
Phone Records: An analysis of appellants’ call records showed a web of completed and attempted communications between all appellants (other than Sanquan) in the months leading up to the South Capitol Street shooting on March 30, 2010. However, after the South Capitol Street shooting, Best, Bost, and Williams continued communicating, but none of the three tried to call Orlando or Simms. By April 3, 2010, all communications stopped amongst appellants’ phones.