Homicide Defendant Accepts Plea Offer

By Aerial Lopez [former] - April 27, 2023
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

A homicide defendant pleaded guilty to one count of voluntary manslaughter while armed during a status hearing on April 27.

On Nov. 7, 2020, around 2:56 a.m., Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers responded to the sounds of gunshots reported on the 3300 block of Water Street, NW. There, they found 19 year-old Franklin Hernandez Arevalo suffering from a gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead on the scene. Police arrested 20-year-old Roberto Cayetano-Mejia for second-degree murder while armed on April 20, 2021. 

Rather than receiving the maximum sentence of 30 years of incarceration and 5 years of supervised release, the plea deal would reduce 22-year-old Cayetano-Mejia’s potential sentence to 12 years of incarceration with 5 years of supervised release. 

This hearing was held a week after its intended date. On April 20, Cayetano-Mejia was subjected to mandatory quarantine and prohibited from entering the courthouse. His defense counsel, Rachel E McCoy and Kevin C Robertson, requested to push back the status hearing by one week. DC Superior Court Judge Anthony C Epstein granted their request.

Judge Epstein will decide whether to accept the prosecution’s sentencing suggestion before the defendant returns to court. He ordered Cayetano-Mejia to a commitment study under the Youth Rehabilitation Act (YRA). This commitment will put the defendant in the custody of the Attorney General until a suitable sentence is determined. 

Cayetano-Mejia is scheduled to return to court on July 21 for a full report and sentencing hearing.