Defense Asks to Continue Sentencing

By D.C. Witness Staff - January 17, 2020
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Juveniles | Suspects | Victims |

During a sentencing Jan. 17, defense counsel asked a judge for a continuance after the prosecution mentioned another stabbing that involved one of the defendants.

Kevon Pinkett and Keith Johnson pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter while armed for stabbing 49-year-old Edwin Richardson on the 2900 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, SE on April 5.

Defense attorney, Lisbeth Sapirstein, asked DC Superior Court Judge Danya Dayson for a continuance because, in a memorandum, the prosecution mentioned a 2019 stabbing where Pinkett, 19, was the victim.

Sapirstein said the prosecution tried to use the stabbing as a way to make Pinkett’s criminal history seem worse, even though he was the victim in that case.

She asked to continue the sentencing until she had time to look into the case herself.

She also asked that the prosecution hand over any surveillance footage in connection to the stabbing, which she said she believed occurred at a metro station in April of 2019.

The prosecutor said she did not want to continue the case because Richardson’s family showed up to court .

However, after speaking with the family, she agreed to continue the case because she felt the other stabbing that involved Pinkett was a necessary part to arguing for a harsher sentence.

The prosecutor also said she did not believe the defense was entitled to the video footage of the stabbing because that was a separate, unrelated matter.

Johnson’s defense attorney, Dominique Winters, said that all of the letters in support of Johnson, 25, had not been sent to the judge’s chambers. She did not oppose a continuance.

Judge Dayson said that if the prosecution planned on using the stabbing in a way that differs from the pre-sentence report and the youth rehabilitation act then the defense deserves time to investigate the stabbing more.

She also said the prosecution should do research into the surveillance footage of the stabbing because it counts as something the defense would need to know about. She said the footage could help the defense argue for less time in prison.

The sentencing in now scheduled to occur on Feb. 28.