Landover Man Charged in Slaying of Witness Against Brother

A brother of the man charged in the 2006 slaying of a well-known music producer in Prince George's County has been arrested and charged with killing a witness who was prepared to testify in the earlier killing, authorities said yesterday.

Rashadd Alexis, 20, was arrested without incident at his home in Landover yesterday afternoon, county police said. Alexis is charged with first-degree murder in the Oct. 1 shooting deaths of Bobby J. Ennels, 22, and Anthony Cash, also 22.

Alexis is the brother of Jamaal G. Alexis, 22, also of Landover, who is scheduled to go on trial Aug. 25 on charges that he killed music producer Raymond Brown, who was widely known as Scottie Beats. Ennels, an alleged accomplice in the Beats slaying, had pleaded guilty and was cooperating with prosecutors when he was killed.

Police allege that Rashadd Alexis killed Ennels to prevent him from testifying against his brother. Investigators said they think Cash was killed because he happened to be with Ennels, said a law enforcement source who declined to be identified by name because the investigation is ongoing.

State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey said prosecutors will seek to introduce the grand jury testimony of the slain witness in Jamaal Alexis's trial. Usually, prosecutors cannot introduce previous testimony if a witness is unavailable for trial.

Under a 2005 Maryland law, prosecutors can introduce the previous testimony if a judge rules that the state has shown "clear and convincing evidence" that the defendant was directly responsible for making the witness unavailable -- such as arranging to have the witness killed.

Ennels was fatally shot as he sat in the driver's seat of a car in a residential area in Landover. Cash also was fatally shot in the car. Both men were from Capitol Heights.

Brown was killed outside his home in Largo when he confronted men who were trying to take away his Chrysler 300 with a tow truck. Prosecutors allege that Jamaal Alexis shot Brown in the chest and Ennels acted as a lookout.