UPPER MARLBORO, Md. — The first anniversary of Jada Medrano-Moore's killing coincided with day three in the murder trial of her alleged shooter.
Prosecutors argue that when Abdurhaman Diaby was 17, he shot and killed Medrano-Moore when she stepped in to protect her brother during a fight near DuVal High School in Lanham, Maryland.
Diaby, who is now 18, is facing multiple charges including murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
On Wednesday the Prince George's County State's Attorney's Office concluded with their witnesses which included the lead investigator in the case and the doctor who conducted Medrano-Moore's autopsy.
Assistant Medical Examiner Dr. Kamilah Fernandez testified that Medrano-Moore was shot at close range in the left cheek.
"The gun was pressed against the skin," she told the jury as prosecutors showed the graphic photos of the autopsy.
The day prior, the responding Prince George's County Police officer who first arrived on the scene had testified that the 16-year-old girl had been shot in the back of the head, but Fernandez said that injury was caused by the bullet exiting the body.
Detective Wayne Tracey with the Prince George's County Police Department shared some insight into what he says led up to the fatal shooting through an analysis of the data obtained from the phone of one of the four suspects. Tracey says that through Ramon Richardson's text messages, investigators determined that on Sept. 11, 2023, the teenagers planned to retaliate for a fight that happened at DuVal High School on Sept. 1, 2023.
Text message conversations between Diaby and the other teenage boys detail the planned attack on the student. Diaby allegedly texted the group, "We got to be militant when we get there and know what we got to do ahead of time."
Tracey testified that in the material reviewed, Jada Medrano-Moore, nor her brother, were ever mentioned. There was also no evidence found by investigators that indicates that the siblings were the targets of the attack.
On Wednesday, Judge Judy Woodall declined defense lawyer Gabriel Christian's request to acquit Diaby of two of the charges he is facing - conspiracy to commit murder and first-degree assault - for the alleged attack on Jada Medrano-Moore's brother. Christian argued that because the siblings were not intended targets, prosecutors had no grounds to move forward with the charges.
Christian called the incident a "tragic consequence of youth violence" and said Medrano-Moore, "was at the wrong place at the wrong time."
The defense says Diaby had a gun that day and they have not argued against the accounts that say he was involved in the incident. They do insist that the shooting was not intentional.
The jury also heard from two of the defense witnesses who say they were involved in the fight that ended in the deadly shooting. One of the teenagers, who is now 17, identified himself as Charles Herbert Flowers High School student, the other as a former DuVal student.
Both told the jury that on Sept. 1, 2023, they had been in the car with Diaby and other teenagers and that they had witnessed the shooting. They both testified that a group of about 15 DuVal High School students had attacked the Flowers High student and that Diaby had pulled out a gun in defense of his friends. The teens say Medrano-Moore tried several times to take the gun from Diaby and that she had made threats to him. The witnesses said Diaby pistol-whipped Medrano-Moore at least once.
The teens say Medrano-Moore and Diaby "scuffled" over the gun which prompted an accidental shooting.
During a conversation with WUSA9, Medrano-Moore's aunt pushed back on the portrayal of her niece as the aggressor in the incident.
Over the more than two hours of questioning, the teenagers provided conflicting details about the incident including what people were wearing, what Medrano-Moore said, and how many times she was pistol-whipped. Their accounts of what the crowd was doing at the time of the struggle between Medrano-Moore and Diaby also did not match.
When asked to demonstrate the struggle over the gun, the student who said he was the one attacked, could not complete the demonstration. He told prosecutors he blacked out during the "brutal attack" and also said he could not recollect all the details because the incident had happened a year prior.
The former DuVal High School student admitted to prosecutors that he had lied to the police and to the State's Attorney's Office about what he had witnessed. He said he had denied witnessing the shooting because he wanted to protect his brother who was also in the car that day, and he wanted to be left alone.
The trial continues on Thursday with possible closing arguments the same day.