At a hearing on March 27, a stabbing defendant entered a guilty plea before DC Superior Court Judge Jason Park ahead of a jury trial.
Charles Haythe, 34, was originally charged with second-degree murder while armed, possession of a prohibited weapon, and carrying a dangerous weapon outside of a home or business. The charges stemmed from his involvement in the fatal stabbing of Aaron Langford, 26, on Oct. 25, 2021 on the 1600 block of 18th Street, SE.
During the hearing, Haythe’s attorney, Julie Swaney, told the court that her client wanted to resolve the case by accepting a plea offer from prosecutors instead of going to trial, which was scheduled to begin on March 30.
The agreement required Haythe to plead guilty to assault with a dangerous weapon in exchange for the prosecution dismissing all other charges.
The prosecution presented their factual basis for the plea, and said that if the case had gone to trial, they would have been able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Langford approached the passenger window of a car where Haythe was seated. Langford stabbed Haythe through the car window, causing injuries to Haythe’s arms and chest.
Haythe exited his vehicle, chased Langford, picked up a sharp object, and injured Langford not in self-defense. Judge Park confirmed with Haythe that these facts were true and accurate.
As part of the plea deal, parties agreed to a sentence of five years of imprisonment, all suspended but time Haythe already served, in favor of 18 months of supervised probation. The sentence is subject to the judge’s approval at sentencing.
Before the hearing concluded, Swaney requested the court remove Haythe’s GPS monitoring on account of full compliance with his release conditions, and Judge Park granted the request.
Parties are slated to reconvene on May 29 for sentencing.
