La Plata, MD – A Charles County Circuit Court jury sitting before Judge Eric Nyce is being tasked to determine if Deavan Quindel Jefferson, 20 of Baltimore, is guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Reuel Hicks, 18 of Waldorf behind the movie theater at St. Charles Mall Oct. 26, 2016 or if he acted in self-defense.
Charles County Assistant States Attorney Jonathan Beattie told the jury Tuesday, May 2 that Charles County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived at the movie theater that night to find a young man lying in the street suffering from a gunshot wound to the head. The shooter had fled the scene, he said.
“Brain matter is coming out of his head,” Beattie said. “Officers find a single shell casing near the body.”
A lookout was broadcast for the suspect wearing a black t-shirt and red camouflage pants. An officer with the sheriff’s office turning onto St. Patrick’s Drive spotted the suspect walking down the street. He made a u-turn and the suspect was apprehended at the Waldorf Dash In.
“The suspect tells the officer, ‘I know what happened. I didn’t do it,’ ” Beattie said.
The prosecutor explained how Jefferson had arranged to meet the victim behind the theater to purchase marijuana. Two other men are with Hicks.
“An altercation breaks out,” the prosecutor noted. “Jefferson pulls out a gun and kills him [Hicks].”
When Jefferson continued denying his participation in the shooting, the officers called his bluff.
“We’ve got a description of the shooter and you’re him,” Beattie recounted the officer telling Jefferson.
In an interview with investigating officers, Jefferson was asked what happened.
“I shot him,” Jefferson is heard telling the investigator. “I shot him in his f—ing head.”
“This isn’t a case of who did it,” Beattie said. “We know who did it.”
Public Defender Matt Connell asserted that Jefferson was not guilty.
“He did not go back behind the movie theater with the intent to kill anybody,” he said.
Connell said that Reuel and his friends were planning a “three-on-one beatdown” and intended to rob the defendant.
“It was a robbery that got reversed,” Connell said. “That’s a fact in this case. This robbery went real bad real fast. The detective asked one of the two men who were with the victim, ‘Were you intending to rob Jefferson that night?’ He shuffled his feet and then said, ‘Yes, we were going to rob him.
“This happened in an instant,” he added. “It was not premeditated. It was a spontaneous event. He [Jefferson] told detectives. ‘I didn’t know if they had a gun, but I wasn’t waiting to find out.’ They have no evidence that this was premeditated with malice or forethought.”
Connell said Hicks’ two friends took the man’s sneakers after he was shot.
“Like vultures, they left him there wearing nothing but his socks,” Connell stated. “They took his money, drugs and a gun before they left.”
Testimony is expected to continue into Wednesday, May 3.
Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com