Jury selection begins today in the case of two District of Columbia police detectives accused of persuading witnesses to change their stories in an investigation of a fatal stabbing at Club U in Northwest Washington.
Detectives Erick Brown and Milagros Morales were assigned to investigate the slaying of Terrance Brown, who was attacked by at least two men and stabbed several times on the dance floor during a concert on Feb. 15, 2005, at the 14th and U streets nightspot.
Two witnesses told the detectives they saw an attacker wielding a box cutter in the early-morning assault, according to the indictment. But when the forensic report found that the cause of death was a 3.5-inch wound to Brown’s heart and determined a box cutter couldn’t have killed him, federal prosecutors said the detectives told the witnesses to alter their testimony to fit the forensic evidence.
The witnesses were told to say the attacker used a “knife-like object” instead of a box cutter, prosecutors said.
An assistant U.S. attorney noted the inconsistencies and asked to speak to the witnesses in person, but court records show Brown and Morales refused to bring them in until the detectives were ordered to do so by their supervisor.
Last month, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly dismissed four of the eight counts against the detectives. Of the remaining counts, one charged Brown and Morales with conspiracy against civil rights, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years. The other three charged the detectives with making false statements, each punishable by up to five years in prison.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C. removed itself from the investigation and the case is being led by federal prosecutors from West Virginia.
No one has been charged with killing Brown. However, the man alleged to have used the box cutter, Jerome Jones, was sentenced to nearly eight years in prison after he was convicted of simple assault, possession of a prohibited weapon and obstruction of justice in connection with the stabbing. Police still are searching for a second suspect believed to have inflicted the fatal wound.
