After about a day of deliberations, the jury found Gregory Trotter, 58, and Ernest Pee Jr., 51, guilty of felony murder, conspiracy, armed robbery and other charges in connection with the June 17, 2010, fatal shooting of Prabhjot Singh, 30, during a robbery of Singh’s store in the 2300 block of Benning Road NE.
Singh was killed trying to help one of the store’s customers during the robbery, said prosecutors Deborah Sines and Adam Schwartz. When Trotter grabbed a woman who was in the store, they said, Singh lunged from behind the counter and tackled him. The two men wrestled and rolled out onto the sidewalk, where Trotter allegedly yelled “get off me” to Singh before shooting Singh in the left eye.
“One shot was all Mr. Trotter needed,” Sines told the jury.
After the shooting, prosecutors said, Trotter went back in the store and helped Pee gather about $40,000 in cash.
During the scuffle with Singh, prosecutors said, Trotter’s baseball cap and cellphone flew. Detectives recovered the hat, and the phone was traced to Trotter.
To try to prove their case, prosecutors relied on grainy surveillance video from the store as well as Trotter’s DNA found on his cap.
Detectives testified that they could identify the men in the video by the shapes of their bodies and their complexions, although the men’s noses and mouths were covered by masks.
The men’s attorneys said that police arrested the wrong men. Five of the six witnesses identified the robbers as being 20 to 25 years old. Pee’s DNA was not found on the scene, his attorney said.
A jury on Thursday convicted 59-year-old Gregory Trotter and 50-year-old Ernest Pee Jr. The two were found guilty of an armed robbery of check-cashing store in the district last May. They were also convicted in a subsequent armed robbery in June 2010 at another store in Washington in which the store owner was killed.
Prosecutors say Trotter and Pee face maximum sentences of life in prison with no possibility of release. Sentencing is set for Feb. 10, 2012.
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