Jury weighing DNA evidence in gas station clerk killing
Surveillance video captures the moment a masked gunman shot a 22-year-old clerk to death during a Wellington gas station holdup nearly five years ago.
A Palm Beach County jury must decide whether DNA evidence on partially burnt clothing is strong enough to pin the brutal slaying on Lajayvian Daniels, 25.
The panel of seven men and five women deliberated for about five-anda-half hours on Wednesday, before telling Circuit Judge Joseph Marx that they wanted to break at 5:30 p.m. The jurors plan to resume their discussion at 9 a.m. Thursday.
Without a murder weapon or any way to identify Shihab Mahmud’s killer on the Chevron station video, it comes down to how the panel weighs the DNA. During their deliberations, the jurors requested to watch the video again.
Assistant State Attorney Lauren Godden said detectives had a major break when they quickly recovered the smoldering remains of black clothing worn by the shooter who ran from the scene at about 1 a.m. on May 30, 2014.
The threads and a pair of Adidas sneakers were found near Daniels’ home, less than a mile from the Chevron at the corner of South Shore and Forest Hill boulevards.
“Lajayvian Daniels is on all the charred clothing,” Godden said of the DNA results. “Millions, billions, trillions and quadrillions to the degree that it is him.” “Why would Mr. Daniels burn his own clothing? It’s because he was in that clothing on video,” the prosecutor told the jury in her closing argument.
But Assistant Public Defenders Christopher FoxLent and Joseph Walsh contended the only truly verifiable piece of the real gunman’s clothing is a hat, and it had none of Daniels’ DNA.
“Their theory about [Daniels] being the shooter makes zero sense,” Walsh said. “Cold hard facts. DNA on a hat doesn’t match this man.”
The defense blamed investigators for ignoring the positive identification of another man on the head covering, and also relying on “low level” DNA samples from the other garments.
“The Cat in the Hat is Franklin Washington,” Walsh argued, citing the name of a potential suspect overlooked by detectives.
In her rebuttal argument, prosecutor Jill Richstone pointed out that there is only a 1 in 29,000 chance that Washington’s DNA is on the hat.
“In no way shape or form could you say Franklin Washington is match to that hat,” Richstone said. “That’s scientifically dishonest to say that.”
Daniels decided not to testify during the trial; the jury, however, listened twice to a statement Daniels made to a detective. Daniels denied any involvement.
Prosecutors say the circumstantial evidence, including the burned clothing and cellphone records, is “overwhelming” to prove Daniels’ guilt.
“He is in Wellington at the time of this murder,” Richstone said. “We know he was there and he’s saying he wasn’t to avoid being tied to this murder.”
The prosecutors suggested Daniels’ motive was his desire to get quick cash to support a baby he had with his girlfriend at the time.
But the prosecutors said shooting the clerk was particularly “cold-blooded” because there was no way for Mahmud to make an identification.
“Lajayvian Daniels robbed that Chevron and took Mr. Mahmud’s life and left him there to die.”
The victim was working shifts at the gas station while also studying computer science at Palm Beach State College. He moved to the United States from Bangladesh about a year before he was killed.
Daniels, originally from Pahokee, is a convicted felon who has served two prison terms since 2010 on charges of fleeing from law enforcement, grand theft and burglary, state records show. Before the murder trial, Daniels rejected a plea offer for a 25-year prison term.