A federal prosecutor told jurors that 46-year-old Nakita Walker’s actions in a 2023 car crash in D.C. that killed three people amounted to second-degree murder.
On the morning of March 15, 2023, Walker fled a traffic stop and hit her black Lexus SUV into a Honda Accord, killing its driver and two rideshare passengers.
“She was speeding and ran a red light on Independence Avenue,” prosecutor Jamie Carter told the jury in her opening statement. “She was speeding up the Rock Creek Parkway, after fleeing a Park Police officer.”
Lyft driver Mohamed Kamara, 42, and passengers Olvin Torres Velasquez and Jonathan Cabrera Mendez, both 23, died in the head-on collision near the P Street NW exit on the Rock Creek Parkway.
But Walker’s defense attorney, A.J. Amissah, told jurors his client did not commit murder.
“One of the keys in second-degree murder is that it is malicious. This was an accident,” he said. “She was trying to get home to her child.”
A few minutes before the crash, Walker and her then-boyfriend Donnell Thomas were stopped by a U.S. Park Police officer who said he had seen the car speeding at 17th Street and Independence Avenue SW, and he followed it up near the Kennedy Center, where he stopped the vehicle.
Officer Andrew Mugavero’s body camera footage, which was shown to the jury, showed he pulled up to the vehicle and approached it on the passenger side. He spoke to Thomas, asking why Walker was driving so fast, and Thomas can be seen dumping liquid from a red cup out of the passenger side window. He told the police officer it was an alcoholic drink.
The officer also asked Thomas about what he suspected was marijuana in his coat. As Thomas and Mugavero were talking, Walker put the car into drive and accelerated at a high speed away from the officer.
A few minutes later, Walker crashed into the other vehicle and Mugavero pulled up on the scene.
He testified he told officers with the Metropolitan Police Department and first responders who were managing the crash, “That’s the woman who just ran from me.”
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Former boyfriend expected to testify
As body camera footage and still pictures of the crash scene were shown to the jury, several family members of the victims began sobbing loudly. Several left the courtroom when a first responder noted that all three of the victims in the Honda were unresponsive and not breathing.
Walker, who suffered a broken femur, sternum and wrist in the crash, had a blood alcohol content above the legal limit.
On Wednesday, Thomas is expected to take the stand and testify as a key prosecutor witness against his former girlfriend.
Prosecutors revealed that Thomas is being given immunity from prosecution because police said he had marijuana in his coat during the stop. While marijuana is legal in D.C., the Park Police noted that marijuana is illegal on federal property or a federal highway.
Amissah, Walker’s attorney, indicated in his opening statement he planned to go after Thomas when he conducts his cross-examination.
“You will hear from Donnell Thomas and he is not credible,” Amissah said.
Walker has a long list of traffic violations in D.C. Records show that in 2023, she had 44 unpaid speed camera tickets and 28 for speeding, totaling $14,300.
Jurors admonished
The first day of testimony didn’t pass without a couple of issues with the jurors. At the end of testimony Tuesday, Judge Rainey Ransom Brandt told the attorneys that one juror was seen texting during the trial.
Before she dismissed the jury, the judge gave specific instructions that jurors are not to use their phones during the trial. Brandt also pointed out that another juror was sleeping during the Park Police officer’s testimony.
“That juror was out like a light during his testimony,” Brandt said in an exasperated tone.
She instructed the attorneys to consider what the court should do about this issue and said she would address it Wednesday morning when testimony resumes.
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