As the jury in the murder trial of former Prince George’s County police officer Keith Washington deliberated late into the evening Thursday, the 12 members had the image of a state’s attorney strutting around the courtroom with Washington’s gun tucked in his pants to think about.
In his final argument, Assistant State’s Attorney William Moomau slipped the gun Washington used the night of Jan. 24, 2007, to shoot Brandon Clark and Robert White into his waistband.
Moomau said it was the same way Washington had done as the men lay bleeding on his carpet in his Accokeek home. It was a symbol, Moomau said, of Washington’s police bravado being threatened, and the reason he severely wounded Whiteand killed Clark.
In more than a week of testimony, the jury has heard prosecution witnesses paint a picture of Washington as an outraged customer who, blinded by rage, opened fire when the deliverymen arrived late.
They also heard defense witnesses describe Washington as a family man calmly enjoying dinner with his wife and daughter before Clark and White arrived with a new bed frame and then proceeded to attack Washington after he objected to White being in his daughter’s bedroom.
Washington faces 12 charges, including second-degree
murder.
“He was simmering for hours and by 7 p.m., he was demanding money be returned,” Assistant States Attorney Joseph Wright said in his closing argument
Thursday, referencing White’s testimony as the state’s sole eyewitness.
“The deliverymen arrive and he starts hitting them. Then Clark said, ‘You need to watch your mouth.’ (Washington) had an out-of-mind experience, grabbed a gun, ‘Get out of my house. I have something to get you out of my house:’ bang, bang, bang, bang.”
But the defense has argued that White, a felon with a history as a sex offender, shouldn’t be trusted. Instead, defense counsel Mike Starr said in his closing arguments, they should believe Washington and his wife, Stacey Washington, who said the two men attacked Washington and he fired in self-defense.
“(White) said Washington wanted them to leave, but shooting them won’t make them leave and if they’re already leaving, why does he shoot them?” Starr asked. White testified he and Clark were backing out of the room when Washington opened fire.
“Keith Washington was the police,” Starr said. “And what Stacey Washington did when she saw him was call the police, and the only reason why was because she saw he was helpless.”
