Judge John Ramsey Johnson found substantial probability Friday that Jermaine Livingston participated in the August 2011 shooting death of 34-year-old Antwain Henderson. Livingston, 41, is the latest of four suspects charged in connection with Henderson’s death; he remains held on a charge of second-degree murder while armed.
Charging documents in the case say Livingston helped move and hide Henderson’s body from police shortly after he was shot August 31, 2011. The preliminary hearing Friday centered around whether Henderson was alive when his body was dragged into a residential basement by Livingston and co-defendant Anthony Campbell.
Metropolitan Police Detective Gabriel Truby testified Friday that a witness saw Campbell shoot Henderson in the head following an argument in the backyard of Campbell’s mother’s house.
Upon seeing police in the front of the home, Livingston, who was inside the house when the shooting occurred, went out back to warn Campbell. Livingston then helped Campbell drag Henderson, who was still breathing, into the house where they kept his body for an hour while police scanned the area. The witness said that Henderson was making “snoring” noises at the time his body was dragged into the basement, Truby testified.
The witness then helped Livingston and Campbell clean up Henderson’s blood and they carried the body outside and put it in the trunk of his own car. The witness said that at that time Henderson was “unconscious and making no noises.”
Campbell then asked Phillip Glover, another co-defendant in the case, to tow Henderson’s vehicle to Maryland. The car was later found engulfed in flames, with Henderson’s body in the trunk.
Daniel Quillin, Livingston’s defense attorney, argued that Henderson was already dead when his client helped dispose of the body, and that Livingston merely acted as an accessory after the murder.
“We don’t have medical proof that says the decedent was unconscious or dead before my client got to him,” Quillin said.
Prosecutors, though, believe Henderson was alive while police were canvassing the area.
“The decedent was kept in the house for an hour after the shooting, and the witness heard him snoring,” Wheeler said. “Snoring proves he was alive.”
Livingston is scheduled for a felony status conference July 12.
