Prosecutors say Donald McCorkle chased down Bruce Parker, shot him, and killed him.
McCorkle’s attorney says it’s not that simple.
In court Friday for the presentment of a second-degree murder charge, McCorkle’s attorney said her client feared Parker. The day Parker was killed, she said, McCorkle was released from a three week hospital stay for injuries he suffered in an assault. An assault where Parker was the perpetrator, she said.
Parker was 47-years-old when he was fatally shot on March 28 in the 1300 block of Bryant St Northeast at about 10:15 p.m.
According to charging documents in the case, one bullet was recovered from Parker’s body during an autopsy and two similar bullets were recovered from the crime scene.
The affidavit in support of an arrest warrant for McCorkle relies on two witnesses, one an eyewitness to the Parker’s death and another whom McCorkle talked to about Parker.
It also relies on accounts from officers who dealt with McCorkle who, over the course of the investigation, allegedly told police “he had it coming to him; I did what I had to do,” “I’ve been watching you do this, you didn’t find anything, did you?” “you can’t catch me,” and “He hit me so I killed him, I killed that man.”
While charging documents in the case state that the day Parker was killed, McCorkle was released from the hospital for injuries suffered in an assault at Parker’s hands, there is no record in D.C. Superior Court that an assault case between the two men was ever prosecuted.
A witness cited in the charging documents told police that Parker and McCorkle “were not friends and that [Parker] was always picking on [McCorkle] and trying to take [McCorkle’s] money and alcohol.”
AUSA Todd Gee rejected the defense’s claims that the killing was in self defense.
“Witness one describes [Parker] running away from another person with a gun who was shooting at him. Pursuing someone with a firearm does not equal self-defense,” Gee said.
Judge Karen Howze ordered McCorkle held pending a preliminary hearing, which is scheduled for Nov. 4 with Judge Lynn Leibovitz.
Read charging documents below.
