Judge Sets Murder Defendant’s Trial Date in 2020

By D.C. Witness Staff - March 1, 2019
Court | Daily Stories | Documents | Homicides | Suspects |

A judge set a trial date for a man in connection to the murder of a 26 year-old man from Jacksonville, NC.

Kavonte Richardson, 25, is charged with first-degree murder while armed for allegedly stabbing Matthew Scott Rooker on the 600 block of 7th Street, NW, on May 23, 2018.

DC Superior Court Judge Ronna Beck set the first day of trial to begin on April 20, 2020. The date coincides with defense counsel’s availability. The extended date would also allow the prosecution to conduct DNA testing.

During the Feb. 28 hearing, the judge also scheduled a status hearing on July 7 for an Innocence Protection Act inquiry. According to the defense, Richardson was not the police’s only suspect. Police also suspected another man, who was also in the area at the time of the murder. Even though the other man was a suspect, he was not interrogated because a witness said the man seemed too slim to match the description of the killer.

Apparently, the witness said the defendant and Rooker, 26, were fighting over what was presumably Rooker’s backpack. After obtaining the backpack, the witness told police that the suspect fled the scene on foot, court documents said.  

At the time of the arrest, the documents said, Richardson had a fresh laceration on his hand and an active warrant for his failure to appear in court for an unrelated case.