The defense for a man on trial for the shooting deaths of a 15-year-old boy on a Metro platform and an off-duty Secret Service office three months earlier asked the jury not to find the defendant guilty of first-degree murder of the teenager because he wasn't taken his medication.
Regarding the killing of the Secret Service agent, the defense says 19-year-old Maurice Bellamy wasn't even there.
Bellamy is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Secret Service Uniformed Division Officer Arthur Baldwin, 30, in December 2015 and Davonte Washington, 15, in March 2016.
Prosecutors showed the jury Metro surveillance video of Bellamy pulling a gun from his pocket and shooting Washington twice in the chest on the platform of the Deanwood Metro station beacuse he thought Washington gave him a dirty look. Washington was with his mother and sisters on his way to get a haircut before Easter when Bellamy asked him why he was looking at him, witnesses told police. When Washington replied, "What?" Bellamy shot him twice in the chest and ran, witnesses said.
Bellamy was identified as the suspect after police compared Metro surveillance footage to a database of juvenile offenders, according to court documents. There's no indication Bellamy and Washington knew each other, police said.
Bellamy's defense does not deny he fired the shots but asked the jury not to consider first-degree murder because it wasn't premeditated.
"He just was off of his meds and made extremely bad judgement shooting a 15-year-old in the chest at point blank range," defense lawyer Kevin McCants said outside the courthouse.
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Police believe the motive in Baldwin's death was robbery. He was shot multiple times Dec. 15, 2015, sitting in a car in the 4700 block of 1st Street SW. He was taken to a hospital where he died, police said.
Bellamy's defense said he wasn't there, but prosecutors said his DNA was found on the car door.
Prosecutors also said the same gun was used in each slaying.
Jurors deliberated for four hours Thursday before being sent home at 4:30 p.m. They will return at 9:30 a.m. Friday.
