In the early evening of November 4, 2016, a report of shots fired drew Anne Arundel County Police officers to an alley in the Brooklyn Park neighborhood of Maryland. There, they discovered the body of 21-year-old Trayvon Dashawn Briscoe, a male resident of Brooklyn, who was suffering from gunshot wounds to his upper body. Medical personnel arrived at the scene near Levin Road and Alley 16 but were unable to save him, and Briscoe was pronounced dead.
An autopsy would later confirm that he died from multiple gunshot wounds.
The investigation into the death of Trayvon Briscoe quickly focused on a suspect from the same neighborhood, 22-year-old Nikko Diamonte Talley. Less than two weeks after Briscoe's death, on November 16, 2016, police executed search warrants in the Brooklyn area and located Talley in Glen Burnie, where he was taken into custody without incident. He was subsequently charged with a host of serious crimes, including first-degree murder, second-degree murder, first-degree assault, second-degree assault, and the use of a firearm in a felony crime of violence. Following his arrest, Talley was held at the Anne Arundel County Detention Center without bond.
While in custody, Talley maintained his innocence, claiming that he was present during the shooting but that another individual was the one who shot Briscoe. His legal team later argued that detectives had coerced him into waiving his Miranda rights during an interrogation. This argument proved successful, and the court granted a motion to suppress statements he made to the police. The case against Nikko Talley proceeded to a jury trial, which began on January 22, 2018. After the prosecution presented its witnesses and evidence, the defense put forward its own case. On January 29, 2018, after deliberating, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty on all charges, acquitting Talley of the murder of Trayvon Dashawn Briscoe. Following his acquittal after more than a year of incarceration, Talley filed a lawsuit alleging malicious prosecution.
