Judge Robert Richter found substantial probability Monday in the case againt Donald Dubose. Dubose is suspected of participating in the May 2012 drive-by shooting death of 34-year-old Michael Oshea Smith.
Smith was shot in the head May 12, 2012. Police found him at about 5:40 a.m. in the passenger seat of a vehicle on the 1200 block of Stevens Road Southeast. Medical workers arrived and pronounced Smith dead on scene. The driver of the car had been shot in the arm, but survived.
Fifteen months later Dubose, 24, was arrested in suspicion of second degree murder in connection with Smith’s death.
At a preliminary hearing Monday, Metropolitan Police Detective Norma Horne testified that the shooting was a drive-by and that police believe Dubose is connected to a car seen in surveillance video of the area near the shooting.
Charging documents in the case state the driver of the vehicle which was shot at told police that he and Smith were headed to Smith’s home in the Barry Farm neighborhood when they noticed a car following them.
According to court documents, the driver said that he pulled over to let the car pass, but the car pulled up next to his and someone began shooting at them. When the driver attempted to speed off, he said he crashed into a home in the 1100 block of Stevens Road Southeast. He told police there were four people in the other car, documents state.
Video footage from several street cameras captured the image of a black Ford Fusion following Smith and his friend moments before they were shot at. Documents state that around 5:33 a.m. that same vehicle was directly behind Smith and his friend as their car crashed.
A witness, and the owner of the Ford Fusion, told police that Dubose borrowed the car the evening before Smith was found dead, and that Dubose returned the car the following morning, documents state.
Another witness later told police that Dubose talked to her about driving the Ford Fusion while some of his friends began shooting at another car.
A felony status conference is scheduled for December 13 with Judge Herbert Dixon.
