Jovante Hall ordered held without bail

By D.C. Witness Staff - April 14, 2016
Court | Homicides | Suspects |

A judge has ordered Jovante Hall without bail after finding probable cause for his arrest in court on Tuesday afternoon.

Hall, 18, has been charged with second-degree murder while armed for the death of of John Rufus Evans III, who was stabbed at the Deanwood metro station Monday morning. Hall was already out on bail for unlawful entry, assault and destruction of property.

According to charging documents, detectives reviewed metro center video surveillance where Hall and Evans were seen traveling on separate metro cars of the same train. Hall was walking ahead of Evans as they both got off at the Deanwood station and Hall waited for Evans to catch up after tapping out of the turnstiles.

An altercation broke out between the two and both had their hands up in the surveillance. Shortly after, Hall fled the metro station with an “unknown item” in his hand and Evans is seen clutching his neck where he was bleeding from.

Shortly after police released still photos of Hall from the video surveillance to the public, investigators began receiving tips through anonymous phone calls, text messages and social media identifying Hall.

A witness said they saw Evans punched Hall first and Hall swung back, but they did not realize he had a knife in his hand.

In court, Hall’s lawyer argued he used self defense to react to Evans’ aggression, but the judge said this was not Hall’s first run-in with the criminal justice system. In 2015, he was charged for assaulting a police officer and possessing a weapon.

Hall is expected to appear in court on April 22.