Judge Grants Trial Delay in 2015 Murder Case

By D.C. Witness Staff - August 2, 2018
Court | Homicides | Suspects |

Nearly a month before a murder trial was scheduled to begin, a DC Superior Court judge granted the defense’s request to push back the date.

Ryan Thompson is charged with second-degree murder and reckless driving for his alleged involvement in the death of Matthew Roth, 22, at the intersection of 16th and Madison Streets, NW in 2015. 

Thompson’s previous co-defendant, Rasheed Murray,accepted a plea agreement in July. The terms of the plea deal have not been released. But, as part of the deal, Murray agreed to testify against Thompson in court, according to the defense.

According to court documents, Thompson and Murray were street racing, traveling north on 16th Street, NW, when Murray lost control of his vehicle and struck Roth’s car. Roth was rushed to the hospital with life-threatening injuries and later pronounced dead. In 2016, Fox 5 reported that Thompson used to work as a firefighter with DC Fire and EMS.

Based on Murray’s plans to testify, Thompson’s defense attorney, Rebecca Bloch, motioned to push the trial date in an effort to have additional time to investigate and prepare for the prosecution’s case with Murray as the “star witness.”

The prosecution had no objection.

Judge Milton Lee granted the motion but said he was “troubled” by the amount of time he would have to delay the trial and noted that the case was more than three years old.

The trial, originally scheduled for September, was rescheduled to April 1, 2019.