It was supposed to be the culmination of a federal armed robbery trial when the jurors discovered evidence that investigators, including the defense attorney, somehow missed.
The jurors were deliberating the case of the accused, Shamell Naquan Joyner. Federal prosecutors accused Joyner of carrying out a string of armed robberies targeting 7-Eleven stores and gas stations in Washington, D.C., in the spring of 2023. They also accused him of stealing vehicles.
During the trial, the jurors were examining the physical evidence, including a jacket, collected by investigators.
One of the jurors searched the breast pocket of Joyner’s jacket and pulled a paper with suspicious white powder on it, something that no one in the courtroom knew was there. And pulled one more that stunned the courtroom: a Chinese yuan bill placed inside a piece of clothing.
Even seasoned federal lawyers asked how these items had slipped past the prying eyes of investigators and attorneys throughout the trial.
U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras, who has a decade of experience on the federal bench, could hardly hide his disbelief. Writing his opinion, the judge said he understands Joyner’s “amazement” at the failure of law enforcement to discover and include the Chinese yuan note and the powdery substance as evidence.
Contreras even joked about the stunning discovery while directly addressing the defense’s lawyer, John Liolos. “Mr. Liolos, who I know is from New York, is probably astonished that any money got past the police department,” the judge said, according to the monthlong trial transcript.
Later, the jury foreperson described the moment in testimony. One juror reached into the jacket’s breast pocket and pulled out what they thought was a receipt. But there was something more inside: white powder or a white substance.
Some powder spilled out before the juror could put it back into the breast pocket and returned the jacket to the bag containing the evidence.
The jurors did not stop there. They searched another piece of clothing and found a crumpled Chinese yuan bill.
What made the discovery particularly remarkable was that none of the law enforcement, prosecutors, or even Joyner’s attorneys had noticed the items.
Contreras told the jurors to set aside the discovery, saying these items were not part of the evidence presented in the case. The juror acceded, and the trial continued.
After the deliberation, the jurors found Joyner guilty on the 13 charges related to five armed robberies and of stealing a vehicle. But they failed to reach a consensus on 15 of the 28 counts, citing disagreements on the existence of reasonable doubt.
Nevertheless, the unexpected discovery of the items during the trial had raised questions about the handling of evidence in federal criminal cases.
Several experienced lawyers, in interviews with CNN, said it was the first time they had encountered such an episode. But former prosecutors in D.C. said it is not entirely uncommon for evidence to slip past investigators.
The late discovery of the evidence, however, did nothing at all to derail the trial.
The jury’s verdict, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, means that Joyner could face the mandatory minimum sentence of 31 years. Joyner’s defense team has yet to appeal the verdict.
But the stunning discovery is likely to cast a shadow over Joyner’s case. That the overlooked evidence was discovered not by law enforcement, federal prosecutors, or the defense team. The jurors did.
