D.C. Detectives' High-Profile Misconduct Trial Begins

The trial of two D.C. police detectives accused of rigging a homicide investigation began yesterday with sensational allegations that the pair repeatedly coached witnesses to change their testimony and finger the wrong man.

Defense attorneys countered that the longtime homicide detectives, Milagros Morales and Erick Brown, were simply doing a thorough job by re-interviewing witnesses and pressing for clearer answers. The attorneys say the officers, now on administrative leave, are victims of an aggressive prosecutor who hastily concluded that the detectives were fabricating a case.

The trial shines a spotlight on the first week of an investigation into a highly publicized killing Feb. 13, 2005, at a D.C. nightclub. The victim, Terrence Brown, 31, was stabbed at Club U, housed in the Frank D. Reeves Municipal Center.

Morales and Brown interviewed two witnesses who said a fracas started when Terrence Brown tried to dance with someone else's date. The witnesses initially said they saw at least two men hitting Terrence Brown, including one who was slashing at him with a box cutter. But after forensic tests showed that a box cutter could not have caused the deep chest wound that killed the victim, the detectives went back to the two witnesses -- who then began describing the weapon as a sharp knifelike object.

The detectives did not know the names of other suspects in the melee, but they had identified Jerome Jones as the man with the box cutter. Assistant U.S. Attorney William Gould told a jury in federal court yesterday that the detectives -- faced with a probing prosecutor's questions about the dubious murder weapon -- tried to firm up their witnesses and their case against Jones.

Besides trying to change the story about a box cutter, the government alleges, the detectives attempted to tamp down a third witness's account about the role of a second assailant.

"They slowly moved to make the evidence fit Jerome Jones," Gould said. "They actively sought out three citizens to change what they said, to change what happened that night."

But defense attorney Brian Heberlig told jurors that the detectives committed no crimes. The flaw, he said, was in how prosecutor Jennifer Anderson, handling the homicide investigation, assumed the worst about them.

"They were just doing their jobs," Heberlig said. "It's very easy to play Monday morning quarterback about their theory . . . but they had probable cause. And the evidence showed Jerome Jones most likely did kill Terrence Brown."

No murder charges have been filed in Terrence Brown's death, and none are imminent. Jones was eventually charged with assault -- not first-degree murder, as the detectives sought. Earlier this year, Jones was convicted of simple assault, obstruction of justice and possession of a prohibited weapon.

Morales and Brown, who were quickly taken off the investigation after Anderson raised questions about their conduct, were indicted by a federal grand jury in March. They are charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice and giving false information.

The case against the detectives is expected to be one of the most closely watched trials in the federal courthouse this year. Not only is it rare for police officers to be charged with such serious misconduct, but the trial pits some strong personalities in the local criminal justice system against one another.

On one side is Anderson, a tough former homicide prosecutor who is well regarded by her peers, who balked at the arrest warrant that the detectives were seeking for Jones and whose allegations launched the criminal investigation. Anderson, who has since become a D.C. Superior Court judge, is expected to be the central prosecution witness. The U.S. attorney's office in Washington has recused itself from the case, and federal prosecutors based in Virginia are handling the prosecution.

On the other side are two longtime homicide detectives who had good track records for closing cases, including several high-profile homicides. Brown, 41, is a 16-year veteran, and Morales, 42, has been on the force for 21 years.

Yesterday's opening statements drew a number of police detectives, prosecutors and even a top deputy at the U.S. attorney's office.