Federal judge excludes gun evidence and rebukes prosecutors. Judge Ana Reyes found the officers’ account of a May 19 laundromat stop unreliable and barred the seized firearm from the government’s case, faulting prosecutors for calling MPD Investigator Harvy Hinostroza, whose testimony has been questioned by other judges. The judge gave prosecutors 30 days to drop the case or face a possible dismissal motion. Defense counsel cited surveillance video and past rulings that undermined Hinostroza’s claims, while U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro defended the officers’ videotaped account.
Judge Excludes Gun Evidence, Scolds Prosecutors for Relying on Officer with Credibility Questions
Federal judge excludes gun evidence and rebukes prosecutors. Judge Ana Reyes found the officers’ account of a May 19 laundromat stop unreliable and barred the seized firearm from the government’s case, faulting prosecutors for calling MPD Investigator Harvy Hinostroza, whose testimony has been questioned by other judges. The judge gave prosecutors 30 days to drop the case or face a possible dismissal motion. Defense counsel cited surveillance video and past rulings that undermined Hinostroza’s claims, while U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro defended the officers’ videotaped account.
06:20 AM, 11/21/2025Society
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled that a gun seized during a May 19 stop outside a laundromat must be excluded from the government’s case, sharply questioning the reliability of the officers’ account and reprimanding prosecutors for presenting testimony from an officer whose credibility has been questioned by other judges.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes said the ruling reaches beyond the facts of the single arrest and emphasized that courts cannot tolerate police officers providing false testimony under oath. Reyes criticized prosecutors for putting Metropolitan Police Department Investigator Harvy Hinostroza on the stand during a pretrial hearing in the case against Deandre Davis.
"I am extremely disappointed that prosecutors elicited testimony from an officer whose credibility has already been questioned by other judges," Reyes said. "It also undermines the public's confidence in our system of justice."
Reyes excluded the firearm as evidence and gave prosecutors 30 days to decide whether to drop the case. She said she would consider a defense motion to dismiss if the government does not withdraw the charges. The defendant, Deandre Davis, was arrested on firearms charges after officers approached him outside the laundromat on May 19.
Defense attorney Eugene Ohm, an assistant federal public defender, argued that surveillance video undermines key elements of the officers’ account, including their claim to have seen the men passing a marijuana cigarette from a pool-length distance and to have identified the substance by sight. Ohm also noted that Hinostroza’s testimony about smelling marijuana has been discredited in two previous D.C. Superior Court cases and that he is the subject of an Internal Affairs review related to 2024 testimony.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro responded that it is "offensive" for the court to question an officer’s credibility when, she said, the alleged crime is captured on video and described consistently by two officers. The Metropolitan Police Department declined to comment, and a message to the union representing MPD officers was not immediately returned.
At the conclusion of the hearing, Judge Reyes addressed Davis directly, reminding him that the underlying conduct was unlawful and urging him to consider carefully how he will use what the judge described as a second chance. "You’re not going to get this lucky again," Reyes said.
Why this matters
The decision raises broader questions about how federal prosecutors vet the officers whose testimony they rely on, particularly as Washington has faced heightened scrutiny of policing amid increased federal law enforcement activity in the district earlier this year. The ruling could affect how prosecutors approach cases that depend heavily on officer credibility and on limited investigative observations made in public settings.