Defense Awaits Plea Offer in Three-Defendant Murder Case

By Mark Lu [former] - May 18, 2022
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

A defense attorney accused prosecutors of procrastinating on a plea offer and asked for his client to be returned to a treatment facility during a hearing for a three-defendant murder case.

Tyler Stringfield, 23, Keith Baham, 22, and Raymond Avent, 22, are indicted on 18 charges including first-degree murder, while armed in the death of 23-year-old Rafiq Hawkins. Hawkins was shot multiple times on the 1300 block of Saratoga Avenue, NE, on March 23, 2019.

According to court documents, surveillance footage shows three individuals- one driver and two passengers- exiting a car near the location of the crime and opening fire at Hawkins, who was walking on the sidewalk. Two individuals allegedly used handguns and the third used a long gun with what police said appeared to be a high-capacity magazine.

During the most recent hearing for this case on May 17, DC Superior Court Judge Robert Okun asked if a plea offer was on the table and if a trial should be scheduled.

During a previous hearing on Feb. 4, the prosecution said they anticipate having a plea offer within 30 days. On March 21, the prosecution said they needed two more weeks.

“It has never taken this long in any case I’ve ever had to get a plea offer from the government,” defense attorney Todd Baldwin said during the May 17 hearing. “Each time the government has said ’a plea is on the way, a plea is on the way,’ and each time they’ve procrastinated and kicked the ball down the road.”

Baldwin represents Stringfield, who was recently moved back from the Department of Correction’s Correctional Treatment Facility to the Central Detention Facility. He completed the LEAD Out! Program, which trains men to become mentors for local youth while providing general and transitional education for participants. Baldwin said the program has allowed Stringfield to receive an education and contribute to the community and asked Judge Okun to recommend he be moved back to CTF so he can continue with his progress.

Baldwin also said he was worried for Stringfield’s safety. “Another one of my clients overdosed at the jail on Sunday,” he told Judge Okun. “I don’t want to see anything bad happen to another one of my clients.”

A 37-year-old domestic violence defendant represented by Baldwin died of a possible overdose at the DC Jail on May 15. Another incarcerated person overdosed as well but was revived by a jail employee. 

Despite the prosecution’s opposition to Baldwin’s request, Judge Okun agreed to recommend Stringfield’s transfer back to CTF.

Judge Okun offered to set a trial date in light of the uncertainty about a potential plea offer. The prosecution said they had prepared an informal plea offer the day before but could not discuss the terms with the defense before the hearing because prosecutors were late due to traffic. They said they would defer to the defense about possibly setting a trial date since they were preparing a global plea offer for all three defendants to become available that same day.

“If [a trial date] is set today, that would not prejudice the defendant in terms of the plea offer,” the prosecutor said.

Avent’s attorney, Leonard Long, was open to setting a trial date but said it depended on whether the prosecution would actually have a plea offer prepared when they said they would. Anne-Marie Moore, Baham’s attorney, asked Judge Okun for a trial date. 

“If the government were going to say ‘We’re not going to offer a plea offer,’ they could have said that last October, and we could have gone to trial,” Baldwin said. “I am happy the government is now offering a plea offer.”

D.C. Witness was unable to access the terms of the plea offer, but it remains on the table for the next 45 days. Judge Okun set a trial date for May 20, 2023, as a formality.

All three defendants are scheduled to return to court on June 22.