2 Killings, Dozens of Witnesses, No Closure

Threats Blamed In Acquittals In Pr. George's

Jacob Brooks was charged with murder twice, once in connection with a 2005 slaying outside a Temple Hills nightclub and another time for the fatal shooting last year of a childhood friend, a man who was widely -- but, authorities say, mistakenly -- thought to be talking to police about the nightclub incident.

In the past two months, juries in Prince George's County have found Brooks, 19, not guilty of murder in both killings. Although one of the juries deadlocked on lesser charges, and prosecutors plan to retry him on those, the nearly back-to-back acquittals for a defendant charged with murder were highly unusual.

Both shootings occurred in front of dozens of witnesses.

In November 2005, two gunmen fired into a crowd outside the club. Lakita Danielle Tolson, a 19-year-old mother and nursing student, was killed, and three others, including a 13-year-old girl, were wounded.

Nine months later, on a warm August night, the shooting scene was a crowded schoolyard in Capitol Heights. Eric S. Holland, 18, was slain; police and relatives said he was targeted because he was believed to be a witness to the Tolson shooting.

Despite the crowds, only two people -- one in each case -- agreed to testify as witnesses in the end, said a spokesman for Glenn F. Ivey, the county's state's attorney.

"We believe that witness intimidation allowed these defendants to elude justice," spokesman Ramon Korionoff wrote in an e-mail response to questions.

Several potential witnesses turned down offers to be temporarily relocated out of the county, Korionoff said.

Brooks, who was accused of providing a gun to one of the nightclub shooters, was tried in June in the Tolson slaying. The jury acquitted him of murder but deadlocked on charges of involuntary manslaughter and assault. Brooks remains jailed as prosecutors prepare to retry him on those charges.

Two other men were charged in the same slaying. In March, a jury acquitted Dominic J. Green, 20, of murder and 19 other charges. Last month, Justin Cherry, 24, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

In the killing of Holland, a longtime friend, Brooks was acquitted Aug. 2. It was the state's second attempt to convict him in that slaying. In April, another jury was unable to reach a verdict, and a mistrial was declared.

The eyewitness who testified for the prosecution in the Holland case -- a teenage friend of Holland's named Brian Cox -- moved out of state because of fears for his safety, prosecutors said. Cox was given a police escort to and from the courtroom, according to a police investigator who declined to be identified because investigations of Brooks and his friends are continuing.