Murder Defendant Makes First Court Appearance Following Hospital Stay

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A murder defendant who had been in the hospital since his arrest in July made his first appearance before a DC Superior Court judge during presentments.

A total of 21 defendants were brought before Judge Nolan Lloyd.

Klein Lawrence is charged with first-degree murder while armed for allegedly shooting Vanessa Brooks-Williams on the 5100 block of Fitch Street, SE, on July 10. He has been hospitalized since his arrest on July 31. 

A bench warrant was issued on July 16 for the 37-year-old’s arrest in connection with the homicide. On July 31, police received a tip that he was on the 1600 block of New York Avenue, NE, according to court documents. A detective saw a man laying on the hood of a vehicle attempting to stop it from moving. After the car sped off and the man picked up a paper bag from the ground, the detective reportedly recognized him as Lawrence.

The detective kept his eyes on Lawrence as he walked away from the area before being surrounded by officers at the intersection of West Virginia and Fenwick Street, NE. Officers attempted to arrest Lawrence when he allegedly held the bag to his head and repeatedly threatened to shoot and kill himself.

Eventually, according to court documents, an officer deployed a taser and two pops were heard: one consistent with the sound of a taser and another consistent with that of a gun.

Officers later recovered a semi-automatic pistol, which court documents state, “had an expended cartridge casing ‘stove-piped’ in the injection port causing it to be jammed.”

Lawrence allegedly told the officers he was not going to use the gun on them. He was taken to a hospital and made his first appearance in court on Sept. 28. There, Judge Lloyd decided to hold him in jail.

Two domestic violence defendants charged with simple assault and attempted threats to do bodily harm were held on bench warrants due to failure to appear in court. They are scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 5.

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