In the early evening of January 11, 2015, a sense of unease settled over the 1300 block of 1st Street, SW in Washington, D.C. At approximately 6:50 p.m., the sound of gunfire shattered the calm, leaving 27-year-old James Anderson, a Black male, fatally wounded. The brazen shooting, just a few blocks from Nationals Park, marked the city's fifth homicide of the new year.
Police arrived to find Anderson suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
The investigation into Anderson's death moved swiftly. Within a month, on February 10, 2015, the Metropolitan Police Department announced the arrest of 21-year-old Dujuan Garris in connection with the murder. Garris was subsequently charged with first-degree murder while armed, bringing a sliver of hope for justice to Anderson's grieving family and community.
The case against Garris, however, would prove to be a complex and contested legal battle. During the trial, which commenced two years after the incident, prosecutors painted a picture of a premeditated robbery gone tragically wrong. They alleged that Garris, known by the nickname 'Fat Fat,' had planned to rob Anderson and enlisted the help of two lookouts. According to the prosecution's narrative, Garris burst into a residence on 1st Street, demanded Anderson's belongings, and a struggle ensued, during which Anderson was shot three times.
The defense, on the other hand, presented a starkly different theory. They argued that Garris was innocent and that Anderson's death was the result of his involvement with a dangerous drug gang. The defense claimed that Anderson was a dealer and had made enemies who had previously robbed and threatened him. They pointed to a suppressed email that allegedly contained the names of other potential suspects, suggesting that the police had failed to investigate other credible leads. The trial was further complicated by the testimony of key witnesses, some of whom seemed to have trouble recalling the events of that fateful night.
