A defendant testified that pressure from his attorney and family led him to accept a plea deal for a murder he did not commit during a hearing before DC Superior Court Judge Neal Kravitz on Dec. 12.
Erin Sheffey, 30, was originally charged with second-degree murder while armed, two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, and three counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence for his alleged involvement in the fatal shooting of 32-year-old Kiwyon Maddox on Aug. 15, 2021 on the 2000 block of 16th Street, SE.
Sheffey accepted an agreement from prosecutors on March 28 that required him to plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter while armed in exchange for prosecutors dismissing all other charges. As part of the deal, parties agreed to a sentence range of seven-and-a-half-to-15 years of imprisonment that would run concurrent with Sheffey’s sentence in his US District Court case.
According to court records, a month after Sheffey accepted the plea deal, his attorney, Peter Cooper, filed a motion on April 29 to withdraw from the case due to a breakdown in communication. Judge Kravitz appointed Sheffey independent counsel–Adrian Madsen– to advise Sheffey regarding his request to withdraw his guilty plea.
At the hearing, Madsen called Sheffey to testify about his motion to withdraw his guilty plea. Sheffey said he requested Cooper as his attorney because he did a “phenomenal job” representing him in a previous case. However, Sheffey said after Cooper was appointed as his lawyer in this case, he never discussed the substance of the case, reviewed discovery, or any other materials with Sheffey.
According to Sheffey, Cooper presented him with the plea deal and said the sentence he received would not make a difference since it would run concurrent to his 18 year sentence from District Court.
Sheffey said Cooper told him it was “f*cking retarded to talk about going to trial.”
At a meeting at the DC Jail in March, Sheffey told Cooper he signed the plea agreement but had not made a final decision. The day he accepted the deal in court, Sheffey said Cooper never asked if he actually decided.
After Judge Kravitz read the factual offer of evidence from the plea agreement, Sheffey said he asked to speak with Cooper under the husher because the alleged facts were not true. “Judge Kravitz told me that I had to admit to something I didn’t do,” said Sheffey.
Madsen asked why Sheffey proceeded with the plea agreement at the hearing despite his innocence, Sheffey said his state of mind was to “hurry up and take a plea deal so [he] could get it over with.”
“I felt pressured to take this plea deal,” said Sheffey because Cooper reportedly threatened to not represent him if he rejected the plea deal. Sheffey said he also felt pressure from his family and friends.
Sheffey also testified that part of the reason he accepted the deal was because Cooper told him prosecutors might involve one of his friends in the case.
Madsen played multiple of Sheffey’s phone calls from the DC Jail. The day of the plea, March 28, Sheffey told his mother on the phone that he was not responsible for the murder. In another call from April 5, Sheffey told his mother he no longer wanted to take the plea deal and that he accepted the deal to prevent his friend’s involvement.
Sheffey reiterated on the stand that he took the plea deal because he wanted the process to be finished.
During cross-examination, the prosecutor confirmed that Sheffey understood the process of receiving a new lawyer and chose not to fire Cooper. Sheffey said he did not fire Cooper because he thought the situation would improve.
Sheffey told the prosecutor that Cooper briefly discussed the risks of proceeding to trial but never mentioned the benefits of the plea deal.
The prosecutor displayed the plea agreement and recitation of facts in court and confirmed with Sheffey that his signature was on the documents. The prosecutor pointed out that the agreement Sheffey signed said “I have discussed it with my attorney.”
The prosecutor asserted Sheffey was familiar with the process of accepting a plea deal because he previously pleaded guilty in a misdemeanor case in the DC Superior Court. Madsen confirmed during his re-direct questioning that Sheffey’s misdemeanor plea did not involve a written proffer of facts.
Sheffey told the prosecutor his conversation with Cooper about another person’s involvement in the case occurred when he signed the agreement. Sheffey said “I felt very pressured” to sign the deal after that. The prosecutor confirmed Cooper simply told Sheffey that information.
“The day of the plea, I was still in my head if I wanted to do it or not,” said Sheffey when the prosecutor confirmed he never told Cooper he did not want to proceed with the guilty plea. Madsen confirmed during redirect that although Sheffey signed the paperwork, he asked Cooper not to file it until he made a final decision.
Judge Kravitz asked Sheffey directly why he wanted to withdraw his plea. “In that plea deal, the stuff that they accused me for, I feel like I didn’t do,” said Sheffey.
Sheffey concluded his testimony, but time constraints prevented the prosecution from calling their witness, parties presenting arguments, and Judge Kravitz ruling on the motion.
The prosecutor plans to call Cooper to testify when parties reconvene on Jan. 9, 2026.
