In the four corners of a DC courtroom on May 2 friends and family members of murder victim Dara Northern, 29, attempted to pick up the pieces of love lost and lives shattered.
“I won’t be kissing her forehead again, hold her in my arms, hold her children,” said Northern’s mother, a well-spoken academic.
“I received the most shocking call of my life. That Dara had been shot. I screamed! I threw the phone down,” said a close friend about the incident on July 18, 2021 on the 6100 block of Fourth Street, NW.
Their voices shaking with rage and spilling tears of grief, the women reading impact statements in DC Superior Court Judge Rainy Brandt’s courtroom were a stunning reminder that time passes but wounds to the soul are painfully slow to heal.
Idrissa Fall, 38, was charged with first-degree premeditated murder while armed, possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, and unlawful possession of a firearm by a convict for fatally shooting Northern. She was targeted through the passenger’s side window while in a friend’s car. The confrontation happened a few days after Northern broke off her relationship with Fall.
Fall was found guilty of all charges in a jury trial on Jan. 22.
Northern’s best friend was with her when she was killed. “I never imagined you were capable of that kind of evil,” she said, facing Fall. “My bond [with Northern] was unbreakable and you broke it.”
“Instead of cherishing that you extinguished it,” she said.
As the case unfolded prosecutors painted Fall as a controlling, manipulating lover who was pathologically jealous of Northern’s every move and critical of her friendships with gay people.
Finally, according to prosecutors, Northern snapped after Fall slapped her. “He hit the wrong woman. She put her foot down,” said the prosecutor. According to the prosecution’s narrative, when the relationship dissolved, Fall acted out with murderous violence.
Underscoring that Fall never accepted responsibility for his actions and had the temerity to ask Northern’s mother for money after killing her daughter, prosecutors asked for a 660 month sentence for the murder with 96 months and 28 months for the gun charges, respectively.
Still, that would not be enough for a close family friend who said torture and the death penalty were the appropriate punishments for Fall’s crime.
“You f****d up when you killed my friend,” she said.”He needs to be gone.”
Despite her pain, Northern’s mother delivered an uplifting message to Fall and the court.
“I will pray for you because you need the mercy of God and Allah.” Along the same line, “May God cleanse your soul of bitterness and come to see yourself.” Northern’s mother had taken Fall into her home during the COVID pandemic.
Judge Brandt called the statements a “master class” of grace and strength.
Fall’s attorney Wole Folondun expressed “deep sorrow” over Northern’s death and offered heartfelt condolences. In explaining Fall’s actions, he pointed to the defendant’s troubled background as one of nine children born in Senegal, himself a victim of violence.
“Without support the experiences of his past have shaped his present,” said Folondun who asked for a 30 year sentence.
Fall apologized, said he was a changed man and that he had devoted himself to prayer, reading and mentoring in jail. “I think about Dara everyday,” he said.
Before imposing the sentence, Judge Brandt reflected on the exceptional nature of the crime she called an ambush.
“As murders in this city go, this ranks with the most callous and heinous,” said the judge.
“All Dara did was love you. Is this the way to express that love?” asked Judge Brandt. She characterized the crime as intolerable domestic violence.
The judge sentenced Fall to 50 years with five years on supervised release for premeditated murder, eight years for possessing a gun in a crime of violence and two years for unlawful possession of a firearm with a felony conviction of more than one year. All terms are to be served concurrently.
In addition, Fall will have to pay $200 to the Victims of Violent Crime Fund and register as a gun offender.
No further proceedings were scheduled.
