Opinion ID: 2066238
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Brisbon's Testimony

Text: Brisbon, who was in his mid twenties, took the stand at trial. He denied any involvement in the crimes and explained that the videotaped confession was a fabrication produced under detailed police direction during two hours he spent alone with Detective Irving, and under severe emotional duress, because of the lies the detectives had told him about his mother's and grandmother's distress. He testified that after at least like eight to nine hours in custody and four or five hours of denying involvement, and repeatedly asking about his family (like maybe 20 or more times) the police told him that his mother and grandmother were locked up as a result of the contraband found during the search of their house. According to Brisbon, he told the officers that he was willing to take the charge of whatever they found at her house, but the police told [him] I couldn't do it unless [he told] them what they wanted to hear. He thought that his ex-girlfriend, Dana Route also had been arrested as an accessory in the shooting deaths, and he wanted to keep her out of it. Brisbon testified that he had falsely implicated Wonson in his confession because the detective told him two guns had been involved in the shooting and he wanted to protect his family and to avoid the version that the police were trying to get him to confess to, in which he, and Dana Route were the shooters. He claimed that Wonson was a vague acquaintance whose name he did not even know until Detective Irving mentioned him. To rebut Brisbon's testimony, the prosecutor played the entire, unredacted videotaped confession during cross-examination. [5] The prosecutor also introduced a letter that Brisbon had written to Wonson from the jail, [6] in which he promised to take the dive on this shit by myself and that he would tell the jury some sucker shit like the police were coercing him to confess. [7] On cross-examination, Brisbon admitted that immediately after the videotaped confession he had also met with another detective and FBI agent concerning their investigation of another crime. During that interview Brisbon confessed to half a dozen unrelated crimes, and also gave information about other crimes in which he was not involved. Brisbon dismissed these volunteered confessions as a way to slander people I didn't like, while offering information to the police in the hope that would help exonerate his mother, grandmother and Dana Route. Brisbon also admitted to having had a third meeting that night, with a different detective, and said the information he gave then also was false. Finally, the prosecutor asked Brisbon about statements he had made at a debriefing meeting that Brisbon's counsel had requested two weeks before trial. [8] Brisbon admitted that at that meeting, with counsel by his side, he repeated what he had said in the videotaped confession, including details about Wonson having approached him because he had a problem and he knew Brisbon had a gun. Wonson was seeking to retaliate for a fistfight he had at a club. According to Brisbon, someone from the 17th & Compton/Independence neighborhood had punched Wonson at the Heart & Soul Nightclub, and, in retaliation, they had planned and executed the shooting at Eastern High School to kill anyone from that neighborhood. Brisbon testified that he had lied to the prosecutors again and that he had simply repeated what Detective Irving had previously told him to say on the videotape. On February 13, 2002, the jury convicted each appellant of two counts of first-degree (premeditated) murder while armed of Charles Jackson and Ivory Harrison, see D.C.Code §§ 22-2401, -404.1(b)(6), -3202 (Supp.1999) (current version at D.C.Code §§ 22-2101, -104.1(b)(6), -4502 (Supp.2008)); one count of assault with intent to kill, while armed, Nikita Sweeney, see D.C.Code § 22-501 (Supp.1999) (current version at D.C.Code § 22-401 (2001)); id. § 22-3202 (current version at D.C.Code § 22-4502 (Supp. 2008)); three counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, for two AK-47s and one Mac-90, see D.C.Code § 22-3204(b) (Supp.1999) (current version at D.C.Code § 22-4504 (2001)); and one count of felony destruction of property, for bullet holes to Nikita Sweeney's automobile, see D.C.Code § 22-403 (current version at D.C.Code § 22-303 (2001)).