DC Superior Court Judge Jason Park granted the release of co-defendants Darryl Little and Marcel Gavin on July 22 while they await sentencing after a guilty plea.
Gavin, 39, Little, 32, John Wilkins, 36, Earl Robinson, 34, and Kharee Jackson, 33, are charged in connection with their alleged involvement in the fatal shooting of Albert Smith Jr., 21, and the robbery and assault of three additional victims on the 1300 block of Congress Street, SE on June 14, 2020.
According to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Smith Jr. was considered an up and coming rapper from the South who was visiting DC with friends and engaged in high stakes gambling the night before his murder with a group from the Congress Park area. Tens of thousands of dollars were exchanged in the overnight session. Prosecutors, say the Congress Park defendants went after Smith and his friends the following morning to steal their money precipitating the homicide.
Wilkins, Robinson, and Jackson are charged with conspiracy, first-degree premeditated murder while armed, three counts of first-degree felony murder while armed, assault with intent to kill while armed, assault with significant bodily injury while armed, nine counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, conspiracy and three counts of robbery while armed. Wilkins is also charged with unlawful possession of a firearm with a prior conviction.
Gavin and Little formerly faced the same charges as Robinson and Jackson.
At the hearing, Gavin and Little accepted plea deals from the prosecution. Gavin pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery and Little pleaded guilty to one count of robbery. In exchange, prosecutors dismissed the remaining charges against them.
Judge Park released Little and Gavin under home confinement and GPS monitoring while they await sentencing. In the lead up to their trial, Little has served 35 months and Gavin has served 52 months.
As part of the plea deals, parties agreed to a sentence of 60 months in prison, all but 36 suspended for Little, and between 36-and-60 months of straight prison time for Gavin. The agreements are both subject to Judge Park’s approval at sentencing.
Judge Park said the time Little and Gavin have already served, compared to the maximum sentence within the plea deal, justified their release.
Little’s attorney, Wole Falodun, estimated Little earned 22 educational and professional certifications and received a job offer while incarcerated at the DC Jail. The parties agreed that if the proper documentation was submitted Little could work while he awaits sentencing.
Judge Park said his decision to release Gavin was a “significantly closer call” because he has a criminal history and did not earn any certifications. Judge Park acknowledged Gavin could not earn any certifications while in protective custody.
According to Gavin’s attorney, Antoini Jones, Gavin sustained two stabbing attempts while in jail and was subsequently moved into protective custody.
Earl Robinson, represented by Kevin Irving, is the sole defendant expected to go to trial on Aug. 17. In reference to recent plea deal discussions with the prosecutors, Irving said it looked like “we weren’t gonna get there.” Irving noted that he would be out of town and not able to return to court until the trial.
The prosecution also introduced a motion to admit evidence of the defendants’ reported gambling and photo evidence of large sums of money the defendants possessed was considered. The prosecutors said they had “a lot of evidence of large amounts of cash.”
According to prosecutors, the evidence would prove that the defendants lost a large amount of money before the shooting and it “got to a point where they are down and want to get it back.”
Judge Park expressed no concerns with the jury hearing witness testimony about gambling, but questioned the extent that photo evidence would support the prosecution’s argument. The photos might risk unfair prejudice against the defendants, noted the judge.
Prosecutors said they might also want to use the photos to prove relationships among defendants. Judge Park said he would need the prosecution to provide a list of photos and the exact reason the prosecution wanted to admit them before he rules. “The devil there is going to be the details,” said Judge Park.
Jackson’s attorney, Sara Kopecki, also requested that the prosecution relay which defendant they planned to use the evidence against.
Parties also discussed a potential witness’ testimony who the prosecution said was the victims’ Uber driver. The same night, while the victims were not with him, the Uber driver was robbed. According to prosecutors, they would not suggest the defendants were involved in the robbery, but wanted him to testify his complete recollection of the night.
Judge Park said, “I think you could lead him around this and instruct him beforehand,” to not testify to the unrelated robbery. Wilkins’ attorney, Bernadette Armand, agreed with Judge Park, “as long as we can work this out in advance.”
The prosecutors noted that some of the witnesses they planned to call at trial had died in the past few years. They requested their investigator be allowed to testify to the witnesses’ deaths so the jury would not diminish the investigation.
Kopecki expressed concern that the jury might speculate the deaths were related to the defendants, “setting up the defendants for improper inference.” As a result, she requested that the witnesses not be mentioned.
Judge Park ruled the investigator could mention the witnesses had died. Armand requested a list of the deceased witnesses the investigator would reference, which Judge Park granted but set no hard deadline for the prosecution to relay the information.
Jackson and Wilkins are scheduled to return on Aug. 3 to consider a plea deal before DC Superior Court Judge Rainey Brandt, since Judge Park is unavailable on that date.
Parties for Robinson are slated to return Aug. 17 for trial. Little and Gavin are scheduled to return on Sept. 29 for sentencing.
