A D.C. man pleaded guilty Friday to gunning down a teacher on Catholic University’s campus in broad daylight more than three years ago.
Jaime Macedo pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and admitted that he was robbing Maxwell Emerson at gunpoint in July 2023 when he shot him as the teacher tried to defend himself.
Macedo told D.C. Superior Court Judge Neal Kravitz that he knew Emerson, 25, of Kentucky, felt unsafe and feared him as their interaction outside Brookland-Catholic University Metro station made its way onto the college’s campus.
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Macedo admitted that he was not acting in self-defense when he shot and killed Emerson during a struggle in a small plaza by Father O’Connell Hall.
His plea agreement appears to contradict some of Macedo’s testimony in his May trial, which ended with a hung jury unable to agree on whether the shooting qualified as murder or manslaughter.
Defense attorneys argued that the gun inside Macedo’s pants discharged and killed Emerson when he tackled their client.
The jurors told WDVM-TV after the trial that the defense’s argument and the prosecution’s key piece of evidence — surveillance footage from a distant camera with no audio — raised too many doubts about Macedo’s intent. The jury was 9-2 in favor of a murder conviction.
The jury did convict Macedo of a weapons violation, and he was ordered to be held behind bars as prosecutors prepared to retry the case early next year. His defense opted to accept a manslaughter plea rather than risk a murder conviction.
“We have to admit it was a very bittersweet moment,” Steve Emerson, Maxwell’s father, told WRC-TV. “Sweet in the fact that, after three years, we heard him say, ’I’m guilty for the death of your son.’ But also bitter in the same vein, that it came in a plea deal, that it wasn’t what we thought it was going to be.”
Prosecutors said Macedo encountered Emerson, who was in town to celebrate Independence Day and attend a conference, at the Metro station around 7:30 a.m. on July 5, 2023.
Surveillance footage showed the two walking along Michigan Avenue NE to Catholic University’s campus. An affidavit said Emerson raised his arms in a “don’t shoot” manner at one point as they walked.
Court testimony revealed that Emerson sent the killer $300 and then messaged his mother to tell her he was being robbed by a man with a gun.
Prosecutors said Macedo appeared to try to snatch something from Emerson, causing the victim to spear-tackle him. That’s when Macedo fired once, killed Emerson and ran away.
Investigators tied Macedo to the killing after finding his DNA on the inside of a ski mask at the scene.
Court records show judges had passed on several previous chances to jail Macedo, now 25, before his fatal interaction with Emerson.
Macedo served two years behind bars for a felony burglary. Set free on probation in May 2022, he repeatedly violated the terms of his probation.
The Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia said Macedo tested positive for cocaine and failed to report for mental health treatment, substance abuse treatment and drug testing as required.
He also pleaded guilty to threatening to shoot and kill a 7-Eleven clerk in Cleveland Park in March 2023. A D.C. Superior Court judge suspended Macedo’s 120-day prison sentence and assigned him to a one-year probation.
Police said they found a cut-up electronic ankle monitor at Macedo’s home in Northeast while investigating his connection to Emerson’s killing.
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