Defendant Pleads Guilty to Gang-Related Murder

By D.C. Witness Staff - July 17, 2019
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Suspects | Victims |

A defendant pleaded guilty to murdering his friend.

Mario Alfaro pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter for shooting 22-year-old Jonathan Vilchez on the 5400 block of Georgia Avenue, NW in 2017. Alfaro, 24, also pleaded guilty for attempted possession of a prohibited weapon after staff from the Department of Corrections (DOC) found a seven inch metal shank in his jail cell in 2018. 

According to the terms of the plea agreement, the defendant could spend up to 30 years in prison for the charges. 

Alfaro was initially charged with second-degree-murder while armed, which has a maximum sentence of 27 years, according to the he District of Columbia Voluntary Sentencing Guidelines.

The defendant and the victim were allegedly apart of the same street gang.

Alfaro and the victim’s mother said Vilchex and Alfaro were friends. Apparently, the two young men  got into an altercation behind the Lucky Corner Market, when both pulled out firearms and began to fire. 

“I would like to ask for your forgiveness,” Alfaro told Vichez’s mother in Spanish, adding “He was my friend.”

“I hope that God can forgive you because I cannot,” Vilchez’s mother said in response.

According to DC Courts, Alfaro is scheduled for a trial readiness hearing on Aug. 1. However, his sentencing is scheduled on Aug. 30.