A homicide defendant rejected a plea offer from the prosecution before DC Superior Court Judge Michael Ryan on March 31.
James Lewis, 48, is charged with second-degree murder while armed, possession of prohibited weapon, and three counts of contempt for his alleged involvement in the fatal stabbing of 30-year-old Brenea Franklin on Jan. 30, 2021 on the 1100 block of Bellevue Street, SE. Franklin sustained a laceration to her neck.
The prosecution put a plea offer on the record. If agreed to, Lewis would plead guilty to second-degree murder while armed in exchange for a sentencing range of 15-to-18 years imprisonment and the dismissal of all other charges.
Lewis said he had discussed the offer with his attorney, Mani Golzari, and rejected it. Judge Ryan found that he did so knowingly and voluntarily.
The previously scheduled trial date of April 1 was pushed back to allow the defense to conduct an investigation of evidence recently disclosed by prosecutors.
Golzari argued that surveillance footage and police body-worn camera footage should not be admitted as evidence due to the prosecution’s failure to turn it over immediately to the defense.
The prosecution said they did not receive the requested footage until March 11, and immediately disclosed it to the defense.
Golzari argued that surveillance footage from the 800 block of Chesapeake Street, NE was in the government’s possession for over a year before they turned it over to the defense.
According to Golzari, the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) detectives investigating the case did not view or preserve all the footage they acquired once they had identified a suspect through DNA evidence. Golzari said this raises questions about the diligence of the investigation.
Golzari told Judge Ryan that despite initially telling the court there was no body-worn camera footage, the prosecution recently told the defense there were three officers involved from Prince George’s County, MD wearing cameras. He said he has only received one of these clips.
The prosecution clarified that they recently learned the officers were wearing cameras and assumed there were three. However, they later learned there were only two cameras activated. They said they have turned over one of the clips, and they are getting the other one.
Judge Ryan agreed that the detectives’ inattention to surveillance footage suggests negligence.
For those videos and the late disclosed surveillance footage from Chesapeake Street, Judge Ryan suggested there was a negative inference, which assumes that the related evidence would be damaging to the prosecution’s case.
However, he denied Golzari’s motion to dismiss the case against Lewis.
Judge Ryan also allowed the defense to push back the trial date in order to conduct their own investigation of the newly received evidence.
Parties are slated to reconvene April 30 for a status hearing, to address remaining motions and set a new trial date.
