Judge Takes Stand in Misconduct Trial

Bitter tensions between D.C. homicide detectives and federal prosecutors were palpable in a federal courtroom yesterday, the result of blood still boiling two years after a homicide investigation went awry.

According to prosecution testimony in court, a cocky homicide detective -- generally unpopular with federal prosecutors -- was trying to make an arrest with his partner in a high-profile murder case, but he ran smack into a prosecutor who was a stickler for details.

Now the two detectives, Erick Brown and Milagros Morales, are on trial, accused of coaching witnesses to finger the wrong man for murder. The prosecutor, now a local judge, is the central witness against them. She testified for six hours yesterday.

Police and prosecutors are taking sides in a very touchy courtroom drama that shines a spotlight on a fairly common power struggle in law enforcement. Police often think they have enough evidence to make a case, and prosecutors just as often send them back looking for more in the hope of making the charges stick.

But in the killing of Terrence Brown at a D.C. nightclub, the two sides sparred so heatedly that the investigation stalled. The tables were turned on the two detectives, who wound up under investigation themselves.

In the coming days, a federal jury will be pressed to answer this question: Did detectives Brown and Morales pressure key witnesses to change their stories so the detectives could pin the murder on someone quickly? Or were they simply a little sloppy in pursuing the man they thought was the killer, and then persecuted by a hostile prosecutor?

By all accounts, then-Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Anderson and Erick Brown developed a toxic relationship in a few short days after the slaying Feb. 13, 2005, at Club U, which is in the Frank D. Reeves Municipal Center. Anderson refused to sign off on a warrant the detectives were seeking to arrest Jerome Jones for murder. The two loudly argued on and off for three days as Anderson repeatedly pointed out holes in Brown's theory of the crime. She asked him to bring in the witnesses so she could interview them herself.

"He was yelling, 'This is [expletive]. I shouldn't have to do this. We have probable cause to arrest,' " Anderson said on the stand.

Anderson said she wouldn't sign the warrant because two key witnesses had initially said that Jones was slashing Terrence Brown with a box cutter and that other unidentified assailants were also attacking him. But the medical examiner had determined that a box cutter could not have made the deep stab wound that ultimately killed the victim.

Anderson said her concerns were not personal but about quality.

"You were accusing Erick Brown of professional incompetence and it wasn't personal?" asked defense attorney Reid Weingarten. "Isn't it true you were extremely critical of his techniques?"

Anderson acknowledged that she was not impressed by Brown's effort to get to the truth, especially after watching tapes of his interviews with witnesses."

He was leading them. . . . In an interview, you try to get as much information as you can from witnesses. You don't suggest information," Anderson said.

Her concerns grew, she said, when she spoke with the witnesses, and they changed their accounts to say they had seen Jones stab Brown with something that looked like a knife. They also said they had seen no other attackers. The government says the detectives urged the witnesses to change their stories; the detectives are charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice and giving false information.

During cross-examination, Weingarten pressed Anderson to acknowledge that tension is natural in any case, as is the practice of going back to witnesses.

Anderson delivered a confident, compelling narrative on the witness stand, but her presence created awkwardness. The detectives' supporters -- their fellow officers -- probably will have future cases in front of her in D.C. Superior Court.

A fellow member of the bench, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, had the delicate job of treating Anderson like any other witness, while repeatedly scolding defense attorneys to let Anderson finish her answers. Prosecutors have a greater stake in vindicating a judge's version of events.