Seventeen year old Derek Johnson appeared shackled before Judge Diana Epps today to be presented with a charge of second-degree murder in the death of a teen detectives say was a former classmate.
Jamar Freeman, also 17, died after being stabbed in the heart on Oct. 8.
Prosecutors allege that Johnson is the person that fought with Freeman, ultimately pulling out a knife and pushing it into Freeman’s chest.
Three witnesses are described in charging documents, each of whom described to detectives first a fist fight between the teens, then Freeman fleeing down an ally and collapsing.
A “lifelong friend” of Freeman’s told detectives that Freeman and others were at the Raymond Recreation Center/Park when someone rode up to Freeman on a bicycle and grabbed Freeman. The two threw each other around “as if they were wrestling,” the friend told detectives. That person also said that Freeman and Johnson were classmates at one time and that Johnson had “picked on” Freeman.
The two other witnesses described also described a fist fight or tussle between Freeman and his attacker and they identified Johnson as the suspect. The first witness however, did not identify Johnson in a photo spread.
Johnson was ordered held pending a preliminary hearing in the case, which is scheduled for Friday at 9 a.m. with Judge Lynn Leibovitz.
Read charging documents in the case below.
