• Murder
• Assault in the First Degree
• Criminal Possession of a Firearm, pistol without a permit. 

The Decedent was the brother of an individual who robbed a shoe store for 3 kilograms of cocaine. The owner of the store identified the Descendant’s brother as the suspected robber and confronted him about the stolen cocaine. The owner made several death threats to the descendent and his family members and enlisted other individuals to do the same. Mr. XXXX was close friends with the owner of the shoe store.

On the night of the homicide, there was surveillance video of a car driving from Mr. X’s house the location of the homicide. Video also showed an individual matching the description of the assailant getting out of the vehicle and walking in the direction of the location of the homicide where the decedent was shot twice in the stomach, ran to the back of the barbershop, opened the back door and ran out. The assailant also opened the back door and fired several more shots fatally wounding the decedent. A large gold ring could be seen on the assailant’s hand.

Mr. X denied involvement. He also claimed that he bought the vehicle seen on the surveillance video from his brother. That his brother had a similar gold ring. Mr. X’s DNA was contained in a three person mixture, located on the back door of the barbershop. 

Successfully preserved the appellate record for third-party culpability by cross-examining the DNA analyst at trial.