TRIAL

D.C., in July 2017.

A forensic firearm examiner testified that the shell casings found on the scene of the murder were from the same gun recovered and in Brawner’s photo, giving the specific marks on the casings. Brawner told the court that the gun was Santana’s.

Sheriff’s office Det. Austin, who was the lead detective on the case, took the stand. Austin told the court that the description of the passenger/shooter from eyewitnesses stayed consistent throughout his investigation, which was a black male with long dreadlocks wearing a black coat with a fur hood.

Austin also recovered several social media photos of Santana in a black coat with a fur hood, which was also recovered from his home.

The state, represented by assistant state’s attorneys Granados and Widder, and the defense, represented by public defenders Edie Cimino and Derrick Johnson, both rested Monday afternoon.

In closing arguments, Widder described the events that took place on March 23, 2016, on Gittings Court, resulting in Santana shooting into a crowd and ultimately injurying one man and killing another.

Widder told the jury that Santana and co-defendant Brawner are obvious friends, and that Santana “went to Gittings Court as [Brawner’s] muscle if things got out of hand.”

He said that it was Santana “sitting in the passenger seat with the gun on his lap” before he fired off “at least a half a dozen shots.”

“You had five people standing by that car — all of them could have been killed,” Widder said.

“Tyson was the peacemaker in all of this [and] of all people he’s the one who gets shot,” Widder said.

He told the jury that Santana had plenty of time to think about what he was doing, which is why shooting the victim is considered first-degree murder.

“Hold that man accountable and find him guilty,” Widder said to the jury.

In the defense’s closing statement, Cimino first told the jury, “they have the wrong person; my client is innocent.”

Cimino said that Brawner

is covering up for his friend, whose first name was brought up during the investigation as the passenger, which Granados shot down in rebuttal,

stating that detectives looked into that person, in which he did not fit the description of the suspect.

Cimino told the jury that an eyewitness, who testified

and identified Santana as the passenger in court, was “not credible” because he has a motive to testify and lessen his sentence for prior convictions.

She also questioned why swabs of Brawner’s vehicle were never sent for DNA testing. Cimino said that the sheriff’s office and state’s attorneys office “put blinders on and turned out the lights” in identifying the suspect in this case.

Santana is scheduled to be sentenced on July 26.