Jurors Stun Courtroom After Making Shocking ‘Last-Minute Discovery’ as Trial Comes to a Close

A monthlong federal armed robbery trial in Washington, D.C., took a bizarre turn just as jurors were preparing to decide the defendant’s fate — after they discovered evidence that police, prosecutors and defense attorneys had apparently overlooked.

Jurors deliberating the case against Shamell Naquan Joyner reportedly found a Chinese yuan bill hidden inside one piece of clothing and a mysterious white powder folded inside a piece of paper in another.

The stunning part: The items had been sitting in evidence throughout the trial.

Nobody involved in the case appeared to know they were there.

Joyner was accused of carrying out a string of armed robberies targeting 7-Eleven stores and gas stations, as well as stealing vehicles, during the spring of 2023.

But during deliberations, jurors began examining clothing that had been entered into evidence — and suddenly uncovered something investigators had missed.

According to a trial transcript obtained by CNN, the jury foreperson said one juror reached into the breast pocket of a jacket and pulled out what initially appeared to be a receipt.

Instead, the paper reportedly contained a white powdery substance.

“We were looking at (the jacket), and (one of the jurors) reached in the breast pocket, and she pulled out — it looked like a receipt, but there was a white powder or white substance inside,” the foreperson said.

Some of the substance apparently spilled out before the juror placed it back inside the pocket and returned the jacket to its evidence bag.

Then came another surprise.

While examining a sweatshirt, a juror reportedly reached inside and pulled out a crumpled piece of currency.

“He pulled out—it was crumpled up—it was a bill…one of the Chinese Yuan bills,” the foreperson said.

The discoveries immediately created a headache for the court.

Neither the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office, law enforcement officials nor Joyner’s defense attorneys had apparently known the items were tucked inside the clothing.

The oversight reportedly stunned veteran lawyers around the federal courthouse. Several attorneys told CNN they had never encountered anything quite like it, although former federal prosecutors acknowledged that evidence can occasionally escape investigators’ attention.

U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras made it clear he was also baffled.

“The Court shares Mr. Joyner’s amazement at law enforcement’s failure to uncover the Chinese Yuan, note, and powdery substance in the physical evidence,” Contreras wrote in an opinion.

The judge even cracked a joke from the bench while referring to Joyner’s attorney, John Liolos.

“Mr. Liolos, who I know is from New York, is probably astonished that any money got past the police department,” Contreras said.

The unexpected discovery created an obvious problem: Jurors had now seen items that had never formally been introduced as evidence in the case.

Contreras questioned the jurors individually and told each of them that the newly discovered objects were not part of the evidence they were supposed to consider.

Each juror reportedly said they could disregard what they had found.

Deliberations then resumed.

The jury ultimately failed to reach a unanimous decision on 15 of the 28 counts against Joyner, with jurors citing disagreements over whether prosecutors had proven those charges beyond a reasonable doubt.

But Joyner was convicted on the remaining 13 counts, which were connected to five armed robberies and a carjacking.

Those convictions carry major consequences.

“The jury’s verdict ensures the defendant will face a 31-year mandatory minimum sentence,” a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Joyner’s attorneys had not filed an appeal at the time of the report.

The extraordinary courtroom episode left one lingering question hanging over the case: How did multiple pieces of potentially significant material remain hidden inside evidence for an entire monthlong trial — only to be discovered by the jurors themselves?