Suspect pleads not guilty to killing a Woodbridge man

By Amanda Stewart

Published: March 24, 2008

A Washington, DC man accused of shooting a 49-year-old man in Woodbridge in 2006 pleaded not guilty in Prince William Circuit Court this morning.

Walter Douglas Jenkins, 32, of 2637 Bowen Road SE, Apt. 104 in Washington, DC, pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and use of a firearm in commission of a felony Monday morning at the start of what attorneys expect to be a two-day trial.

Witnesses testified that on Sept. 19, 2006, 49-year-old Gordon Harris was standing on the corner of Featherstone Road and Farm Creek Drive in Woodbridge. Harris and other men regularly stood at that corner, near the Featherstone Industrial Park, to wait for passing trucks to hire them for daily work.

On Sept. 19, while Harris was standing on that corner at around 7:30 a.m., witnesses saw a man dressed in all black and wearing a hooded sweatshirt and mask approach Harris and shoot him several times at close range.

One of the witnesses, Simo Holloway, testified Monday morning that he was sitting in his car when the shooting occurred. The shooter began running and Holloway followed him in his car through a residential neighborhood.

Holloway said that he lost track of the shooter a few times, but saw him run into a wooded area. Soon after he saw Jenkins, in different clothes, getting into his car. He recognized Jenkins to be the shooter because he recognized his shoes, he said.

Holloway wrote down Jenkins’ license plate number and gave it to police, who stopped Jenkins’ car soon afterwards.

Another witness, James Cassidy, testified that he saw Jenkins pull up to Marumsco Acres Lake Park and run into the park, carrying a bag. He said Jenkins later emerged without the bag.

In his opening statement Monday, Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney James Willett told jurors that the case against Jenkins poses one significant question.

“That question is why would a man who didn’t do anything wrong take off his clothing, put them in a plastic bag and hide them in the woods,” Willett said. “I can’t think of any legitimate and lawful reason for anyone to do that.”

He also said that Jenkins had a motive to shoot Harris: revenge.

About a week before the shooting, Harris confronted Jenkins at a warehouse where Jenkins was working.

Harris had a baseball bat and asked Jenkins to come outside.

Harris was angry that Jenkins had been “undercutting,” or offering to work for less money than other day laborers, to take jobs from them.

“[Jenkins] was going to get his revenge and on the morning of Sept. 19 he did just that,” Willett said.

In his opening statement, defense attorney Olaun Simmons said there is no evidence to link Jenkins to Harris’s murder.

“The evidence is going to show that Mr. Jenkins had nothing to do with this crime whatsoever,” Simmons told jurors.

He said the argument between Jenkins and Harris was “not a big deal.”

“That dispute was resolved. So there will be no reason for revenge,” Simmons said.

None of the witnesses to the crime saw the shooter’s face, Simmons said.

“There is definitely reasonable doubt about the actual identity of the shooter,” Simmons said.

The trial continues this afternoon. Come back to http://www.insidenova.com for updates.