Men charged with murder for deadly street crash offered plea deal

By D.C. Witness Staff - July 25, 2016
Court | Homicides | Suspects |

The two men charged with murder after their street race claimed the live of an uninvolved driver were offered a plea deal Monday.

Ryan Thompson and Rasheed Murray were charged with the second-degree murder of Matthew Jeffrey Roth last July. According to police, Thompson and Murray were street racing, traveling north on 16th Street, NW, when Murray lost control of his vehicle and he struck another car, driven by Roth. Roth was rushed to the hospital with life-threatening injuries and later was pronounced dead.

The government has offered both men a sentence of four to 10 years, in compliance with sentencing guidelines, if they both plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter. Both men have to accept the deal before August 12 for it to go forward.

Roth’s family filled rows of the courtroom Monday, sitting around a jersey bearing Roth’s name hanging over one of the courtrooms upholstered seats.

Murray was arrested at the scene of the crash and Thompson was charged later on November 10. Both were released on bail with high intensive supervision.

Nearing the end of the status hearing, the prosecution also noted that Thompson may have violated his release conditions. He was pulled over on April 5 driving 85 m.p.h in a 60 m.p.h  zone. He was charged a fine and pretrial services was not notified. The prosecutors requested a pretrial show cause hearing be set to review the latest violation, which was scheduled for August 6.

Thompson, who was a D.C. firefighter at the time of the crash. He was put on leave by the department, according to FireRescue1, a news site that provides information the fire service community.

Thompson and Murray will be seen together in court on September 30 for another status hearing.