During opening statements in the Marlon Williams murder trial Tuesday prosecutors said forensic evidence and witness testimony will prove Williams shot Min Soo Kang, stole his car, and then left him for dead on the side of the road.
But Russell Hairston, Williams’ defense attorney, argued that the government “didn’t do their job,” and that there is no evidence proving beyond a reasonable doubt that his client committed the murder.
Williams, 32, is charged with first-degree felony murder in the September 2010 shooting death of 37-year-old Kang. This is Williams’ second trial in the case; jurors in the first trial deadlocked in February.
In opening statements, Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Wheeler, described Kang’s last moments. After purchasing two cartons of cigarettes at a gas station in Alexandria, Va., Wheeler said, Kang sat in the driver’s seat of his black Escalade, which was parked in the 3500 block of Croffut Place Southeast. Prosecutors allege that was when Williams approached Kang, opened the passenger side door, shot him in the face and chest, dragged him onto the ground, and then fled with Kang’s car.
Kang was found lying on the sidewalk around 4:00 a.m. Sept. 13, 2010.
Kang’s vehicle was found two miles away in the 5200 block of Ames Street Northeast, after OnStar disabled the car’s engine.
Robert McCollum, an MPD crime scene technician, testified Tuesday that 45 fingerprints were recovered from the vehicle, six of which matched Williams.
“Mr. Williams shot, shot, shot Mr. Kang,” Wheeler said during opening statements. “[Williams’] fingerprints were found on the interior handle of the car; his palm print [was] found on the car’s hood.”
Ebony Hood testified Tuesday that as she walked home from work, she saw an Escalade parked in front of her house; a man was sitting across the street from the car, she said.
Hood testified that she watched the man from a window as he flashed the vehicle’s lights and “messed with the hood” of the car. She then called 911 and described the man as 5-feet-4-inches, dark-skinned and wearing black pants, black shoes and a white T-shirt. Prosecutors believe Williams fit that description.
But Hairston argued Tuesday that it was not an identification of his client and that even “juror seven fits that description.”
Williams’ first trial ended with a deadlocked jury after two and a half days of deliberations.
In that trial, jurors said eight of the twelve jurors were prepared to vote guilty on a felony murder charge; six of the twelve were prepared to convict on an attempted robbery charge.
The trial is scheduled to resume Wednesday in Judge Russell Canan’s courtroom.
