A Charles County Circuit Court jury deliberated for three hours before finding a 27-year-old Waldorf man accused of a 2016 murder guilty after a seven day trial.
Angel Miguel Santana was charged with 53 counts in regards to this case, including first-degree murder, second-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder. He was found guilty on all counts when the jury delivered its verdict around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday afternoon.
Santana’s co-defendant and alleged getaway driver, Rashaad Jovonni Brawner, 22, of Waldorf was also charged with second-degree murder days after the double-shooting on Gittings Court that killed 19-year-old Thomas Elijah-Isaih “Tyson” Tibbs.
According to sheriff’s office incident reports, on the evening of March 23, 2016, Brawner and Santana were driving through the area when Brawner saw a group of men on Gittings Court in Waldorf. Brawner had a conflict with one of the men, so he stopped the car and got out to confront him. A physical altercation ensued and Brawner ultimately retreated back to the car. Several men then tried to pull Brawner out of the driver’s seat by his legs when Santana allegedly fired several shots from within the car. The men started to run, but Tibbs was struck by two bullets in the chest and arm and the man — who Brawner had initially confronted — was shot in his buttocks.
In Charles County Circuit Court, with Judge Amy J. Bragunier presiding, assistant state’s attorneys Francis Granados and Jeremy Widder called 27 witnesses to testify during the duration of the trial.
All witnesses called to the stand who had been at the Tibbs’ home at the time of the incident had similar stories of what happened before and after the shooting of Tibbs and another victim.
The witnesses said that they remember at least one attempted fight before co-defendant Brawner pulled up to the home in a black Audi. Several witnesses testified that Brawner got out of the car and attempted to fight the victim. They also said that there was a crowd of three to seven people around the driver’s side of the Audi, including Tibbs and the other victim.
Several witnesses also told the court that while the victim and another person were fighting Brawner by his open driver’s side door, shots were fired.
Some witnesses said they knew the shots came from inside the car, some said they did not know where they came from. Some witnesses said they saw a passenger inside the car. One witness said he “100 percent” identified the passenger as Santana, and another witness described the passenger’s physicality, which matched Santana’s skin color, hair style and facial hair.
Other witnesses said they could not tell if there was a passenger inside because of the dark tint on the windows of the Audi.
Two witnesses said they saw the passenger with a gun, and both described it as a black semi-automatic handgun with an extended clip.
Several EMS, sheriff’s office deputies, technicians and detectives and a forensic pathologist all testified that Tibbs suffered from gunshot wounds on the scene, in which shell casings were recovered from the area. His death was a result of gunshot wounds to the torso and labeled as homicide, according to the testimony of the officials.
Three neighbors of the Tibbs’ testifed in court; all who said they saw a large crowd at the home and heard gunshots that day. One neighbor said she saw several attempted fights and yelling in front of the Tibbs’ home. She said she also saw the black Audi pull up to the home and soon thereafter heard gunshots.
Another neighbor testified that his house, across from the Tibbs’ home, was hit with two bullets, one of which went though the interior of the home, while he, his wife and children were home.
Santana’s co-defendant, Brawner, also took the stand on Wednesday. He said on March 23, 2016, he ran into the victim at the Exxon in Waldorf, where they got into an argument. Hours later, while at Santana’s home, he and Santana left in Brawner’s black Audi and went to Tibbs’ house. Brawner said that he realized Santana had a gun while they were on the way to the home. He said when arriving he approached the victim and did not fight him. Brawner said once he got back to his car three to seven people surrounded him and two people attempted to pull him out of the driver’s seat through the open door. He said then Santana fired off “three” shots.
Brawner told the court that he and Santana drove off quickly; he did not see if anyone was shot. He said that when they got back to Santana’s house, they cleaned the shell casings out of the car.
The jury also learned that the gun with the same serial number as a gun Brawner posted to social media, matching the description of the gun involved in the murder, was found by a landscaper under a bush in Washington, D.C., in July 2017.
A forensic firearm examiner testified that the shell casings found on the scene of the murder were from the same gun recovered and in Brawner’s photo, giving the specific marks on the casings. Brawner told the court that the gun was Santana’s.
Sheriff’s office Det. Austin, who was the lead detective on the case, took the stand. Austin told the court that the description of the passenger/shooter from eyewitnesses stayed consistent throughout his investigation, which was a black male with long dreadlocks wearing a black coat with a fur hood.
Austin also recovered several social media photos of Santana in a black coat with a fur hood, which was also recovered from his home.
The state, represented by assistant state’s attorneys Granados and Widder, and the defense, represented by public defenders Edie Cimino and Derrick Johnson, both rested Monday afternoon.
In closing arguments, Widder described the events that took place on March 23, 2016, on Gittings Court, resulting in Santana shooting into a crowd and ultimately injurying one man and killing another.
Widder told the jury that Santana and co-defendant Brawner are obvious friends, and that Santana “went to Gittings Court as [Brawner’s] muscle if things got out of hand.”
He said that it was Santana “sitting in the passenger seat with the gun on his lap” before he fired off “at least a half a dozen shots.”
“You had five people standing by that car — all of them could have been killed,” Widder said.
“Tyson was the peacemaker in all of this [and] of all people he’s the one who gets shot,” Widder said.
He told the jury that Santana had plenty of time to think about what he was doing, which is why shooting the victim is considered first-degree murder.
“Hold that man accountable and find him guilty,” Widder said to the jury.
In the defense’s closing statement, Cimino first told the jury, “they have the wrong person; my client is innocent.”
Cimino said that Brawner is covering up for his friend, whose first name was brought up during the investigation as the passenger, which Granados shot down in rebuttal, stating that detectives looked into that person, in which he did not fit the description of the suspect.
Cimino told the jury that an eyewitness, who testified and identified Santana as the passenger in court, was “not credible” because he has a motive to testify and lessen his sentence for prior convictions.
She also questioned why swabs of Brawner’s vehicle were never sent for DNA testing. Cimino said that the sheriff’s office and state’s attorneys office “put blinders on and turned out the lights” in identifying the suspect in this case.
Santana is scheduled to be sentenced on July 26.
Originally Posted on Maryland Independent:
http://www.somdnews.com/independent/spotlight/seven-day-murder-trial-concludes-with-guilty-verdict/article_808f44a1-a96b-5c5c-9890-4cc9e490ab71.html