Kevin Brown was ordered released from jail Thursday and the murder charge against him dropped when prosecutors asked Judge Rhonda Winston to dismiss the case.
Brown, 31, has been held for nine months on the second-degree murder charge. Prosecutors had argued that Brown shot 19-year-old James Edward Dean in Feb. 2013.
Prosecutors asked that the case be dismissed on Thursday after a Grand Jury did not return an indictment against Brown. Prosecutors have nine months by law, beginning at the date of arrest, to indict a suspect. Without an indictment a case cannot proceed to trial.
“The case was dismissed pending further investigation,” said Bill Miller, spokesman at the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Judge Winston dismissed the case without prejudice, meaning the government may re-file the case at a later time. Brown was ordered released from jail.
Brown was ordered held on June 6, 2013, and on July 18, 2013, Judge Ronna Beck found substantial probability that Brown participated in Dean’s shooting death.
According to charging documents in the case, police heard five or six gunshots while conducting a traffic stop at around 5 p.m on February 10, 2013. They found Dean unconscious and unresponsive on the sidewalk of the 3100 block of Buena Vista Terrace, Southeast. He later died at Prince George’s County Hospital.
At the scene, police found seven bullet casings and several surveillance cameras that recorded a male suspect exiting the front passenger side of a black SUV and sprinting out of view, state charging documents.
Moments later, the video captures Dean walking by the camera and a man walking up behind him. The man then shoots Dean multiple times, runs back to the SUV, and the driver speeds away.
Charging documents state police located four witnesses to the shooting. One of them identified Brown from a photo array and told police it saw Brown exit the passenger side of a black SUV and walk up the street out of sight.
A few minutes later, the witness heard gunshots and saw Brown run back to the SUV with a dark object in his hand.
