Jurors discover suspected drugs while examining evidence in robbery, carjacking case

Jurors were examining clothing entered into evidence during deliberations in a case of a man accused of holding up 10 gas stations and convenience stores when they discovered what appeared to be drugs. 

Prosecutors allege that Shamell Naquan Joyner robbed 10 convenience stores and gas stations in Washington, Maryland and northern Virginia in the spring of 2023. They also accuse him of armed carjackings, and altogether, the incidents resulted in a 28-count indictment, CNN reported. 

On July 22, the jury was looking at a jacket and a sweatshirt found in one of the carjacked vehicles that Joyner allegedly wore. According to trial transcripts, in the breast pocket of the jacket, they found a "white powder or white substance" folded inside a piece of paper. They also found Chinese Yuan bills inside the sweatshirt. 

The prosecutors and judge said the substance appeared to be drugs, which law enforcement hadn't discovered. The FBI declined to comment about the discovery when CNN asked how agents missed them, and the DC U.S. Attorney's office didn't respond.