Defendant Pleads Guilty

By D.C. Witness Staff - July 27, 2020
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Suspects |

On July 27, a defendant pleaded guilty to attempted assault with a dangerous weapon and carrying a pistol without a license outside a home or business.

On Sept. 15, 2019, Stephen Harper, 20, fired multiple shots at two men who got into a physical altercation with his acquaintance on the 3900 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Street, SW earlier that day, according to a proffer of facts by the prosecution. Harper did not injure either of the men, but he did accidentally shoot a 54-year-old bystander in the foot. The defendant was charged on Dec. 10, 2019.

Harper was briefly released to a halfway house on Dec. 17, 2019. However, he was returned to DC Jail on Feb. 26 for misconduct. He also repeatedly violated pretrial release conditions.

According to the plea agreement, the prosecution agreed not to seek indictments on further charges that could have stemmed from the incident. The agreement also requests that the judge impose supervised probation for less than three years.

Judge Danya Dayson accepted Harper’s guilty plea. 

Derrick Page, Harper’s attorney, requested for his client’s release from DC Jail pending sentencing after the agreement was accepted.

Judge Dayson denied the request, saying that the nature of the offense is quite serious and Harper was firing his weapon indiscriminately.

Harper is scheduled to appear in court again on Sept. 14 for sentencing.