Fatal Stabbing Case has Enough Evidence to Go to Trial, Judge Rules

By Blair McLendon [former] - September 17, 2021
Court | Daily Stories | Documents | Homicides | stabbing | Suspects | Victims |

A DC Superior Court judge ruled that a murder case has enough evidence to go to trial.

Rodney Lindsay, 54, is charged with second-degree murder while armed for allegedly stabbing 53-year-old Terrence Gause on the 700 block of Adrian Street, SE, on the morning of Aug. 14. 

According to court documents, Lindsay and Gause had been in a dispute over their relationships with a witness.  

On the morning of the homicide, Lindsay’s relative drove him to this witness’ home to look for his keys, according to court documents. Several minutes later, video footage shows Lindsay and Gause arguing outside the home. Gause reportedly told the defendant, “I told you not to come back over here again.”

When Lindsay left the property, he walked down the stairs and waited on the sidewalk, where Gause approached him, video footage shows.

“While assaulting the decedent the defendant appears to be using a stabbing motion in the waist, back and hip area of the decedent as the decedent appears to attempt to get away,” the gerstein affidavit states.

Footage shows Gause stumbling up to the witness’ home and collapsing on the front steps.

The Metropolitan Police Department obtained an arrest warrant for Lindsay, but he turned himself in a couple of days after the stabbing.

During the Sept. 15 hearing, defense attorney Ronald Resetarits argued that his client acted in self-defense. He pointed out that, according to court documents, on the night before his death, Gause allegedly went to a third witness’ home with a knife in his hand. Resetarits also noted that, according to court documents, a witness said that Gause used PCP and alcohol almost every day.

The prosecution, however, argued that Gause and Lindsay appeared calm and unthreatened in the video footage from the day of the homicide.

Judge Neal Kravitz ruled that the case has probable cause. He said that, while the decedent’s conduct was “provocative”, it did not warrant “such a violent response”. 

Judge Kravitz did, however, allow Lindsay to be released into the High Intensity Supervision Program. His next hearing is scheduled for Jan. 14, 2022.