A District of Columbia Superior Court judge granted Dec. 11 the defense’s request to continue two murder defendants’ preliminary hearing.
Dale Thomas and Donnell Mills are charged with first-degree murder while armed for their alleged role in the stabbing death of 38-year-old Jelani Mohammed on the 1500 block of Benning Road, NE in November.
According to court documents, Metrobus surveillance footage, near a Benning Road bus stop, shows two individuals approach Mohammed from behind and assault him. However, a knife was not visible during the fight.
Apparently, the two individuals grabbed at the victim’s backpack in an attempt to steal it, documents state. During the investigation, police were able to identify Thomas, 28, based on his clothing in the footage. Meanwhile, an eyewitness identified Mills, 29, by name.
Thomas’s defense attorney, Matthew Davies, requested the continuance, saying he needs more time to prepare.
Judge Milton Lee continued the preliminary hearing to Jan. 17, 2019.
The Metropolitan Police Department arrested a suspect Dec. 10 in connection to a September homicide in Northeast DC.
According to a press release, Rickie Collier was arrested and charged with second-degree murder while armed for his alleged role in the shooting death of 25-year-old Marquiawn Williams on the 1800 block of Benning Road, NE.
Collier, 25, is scheduled to be presented in court Dec. 11.
During opening arguments in a 2015 murder trial, the prosecution said two eye-witnesses identified the defendant as the shooter.
Eric McDuffie is charged with first-degree murder while armed and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence for allegedly shooting 23-year-old Antonio McCallister on the 2700 block of Langston Place, SE in the Woodland neighborhood.
This is the second trial for the murder case. According to court documents, McDuffie, 27, had a previous trial in April. However, a jury couldn’t come to a unanimous decision on any of the charges.
On Dec. 10, the prosecution told the jury that the victim’s mother was only feet away from where her son was executed.
The prosecution said the defendant approached McCallister from behind and shot him publicly in the back of the head for the whole neighborhood to see. The prosecutor said that the best way to shut a neighborhood up or deter someone from “snitching” is to kill someone publicly.
While holding her son, the mother pointed at McDuffie’s house and told police the shooter came from there, the prosecution said. She also pointed to a white car, which was registered to the defendant.
Furthermore, the prosecution said that an unnamed individual identified McDuffie, by name, as the shooter.
The individual also told police that the shooter was wearing bright, moldy colored sneakers. The sneakers were later found in McDuffie’s house.
The defense decided to give their opening statements when they argue their case.
A plea deal was offered Dec. 11 to a murder defendant who is accused of driving under the influence, killing a woman and injuring two men.
Terica Younger is charged with second-degree murder for her alleged involvement in the death of 43-year-old Talata Williams on the 2400 block of Good Hope Road, SE in 2017. Younger is also charged with assault on a police officer, failure to appear and attempted threats to do bodily harm.
Per the terms of the plea, the prosecution agreed to downgrade Younger’s second-degree murder charge to voluntary manslaughter and add two felony assault charges. The prosecutor also said he plans to dismiss Younger’s other charges.
Defense attorney, Madalyn Harvey, told the judge that she needs time to discuss the plea with her client.
According to court documents, multiple witnesses saw a Dodge pickup, the vehicle Younger, 41, was operating, crash into a Honda Accord, the vehicle Williams was a passenger in. Williams was pronounced dead on the scene. At the time of the crash, Younger’s blood alcohol level was .10, which was above the .08 legal limit. She also tested positive for using fentanyl, a narcotic.
Apparently, Younger’s passenger and the driver of the Honda Accord were also injured during the crash and hospitalized for several weeks.
Younger is currently released on personal recognizance. However, the court requires that she report for drug testing.
Harvey requested that D.C. Superior Court Judge Milton Lee reassess Younger’s requirement to report for drug testing, saying that Younger, who is in a wheelchair, is having difficulty reporting because of her disability.
Judge Lee denied the request, saying Younger’s drug testing is “non-negotiable.” Judge Lee also said that Younger’s drug use is the “root of what’s going on and can’t be avoided.”
Younger is scheduled for a status hearing on Jan. 18, 2019.
Instead of going to trial, which was scheduled to begin on Dec.10, a murder defendant accepted a plea deal for his role in a homicide that occurred in 2016.
Nathaniel Taylor pleaded guilty to second-degree murder while armed for fatally shooting 23-year-old Nuru Frenche on the 4900 block of Just Street, NE.
In January, Anthony Blackmone pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and attempted robbery in connection to Frenche’s death. Blackmone, 23, was sentenced to six years in prison.
According to the prosecution, the group of men were conducting a purchase of firearms when Blackmone “initiated a conflict” with Frenche, who was holding $500 at the time. Taylor, 25, who the prosecution said was not involved with the conflict, shot Frenche.
Per the terms of the agreement, the prosecution downgraded Taylor’s felony murder charge to second-degree murder while armed and agreed to drop all of his remaining charges, including conspiracy, assault with intent to kill while armed, attempt to commit robbery while armed and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence.
Contingent on the judge’s approval, Taylor could be sentenced to 12-20 years in prison.
Taylor’s sentencing is scheduled on March 8, 2019.
On Dec. 10, a District of Columbia Superior Court judge set a trial date for a murder defendant, who was formally indicted in connection to a 2010 homicide.
A grand jury indicted Jackie Berry on second-degree murder while armed and carrying a dangerous weapon for allegedly stabbing 38-year-old Michael Geoffrey McKoy, a known gay man from the Anacostia neighborhood, on the 1600 block of V Street, SE. According to the Washington Blade, McKoy was the fourth gay man to be murdered in the area in 2010.
Berry, 29, is slated to go to trial on July 8, 2019.
Police found McKoy naked and suffering from multiple stab wounds in his apartment on V Street, according to court documents. During the investigation, police located the victim’s phone records and determined Berry was one of the last people to call McKoy. Police also found a flushed condom in Berry’s apartment with McKoy’s DNA on it, which led to his arrest in March.
Berry is scheduled for a status hearing on Jan. 18, 2019.
In nearly four weeks time, there were 15 homicides in the District of Columbia. During that same time frame, the Metropolitan Police Department reported the recovery of 118 illegal firearms within the District, the majority of which were found in Southeast and Northwest DC.
Map of the 15 homicides that occurred in Washington DC, from Oct. 30 to Nov. 30.
The 15 homicides that occurred between October 30 and November 30, included a fatal stabbing, a trauma-related homicide and 13 gun-related murders. A weapon wasn’t specified for the trauma-related case.
Of the 13 fatal shootings: five took place in Northeast, four were in Southeast, two in Northwest, and two occurred in Southwest DC.
Of the 118 recovered firearms: 52 firearms were located in Southeast, 30 were located in Northwest, 29 were recovered in Northeast and seven were recovered in Southwest DC, according to the police.
Map of illegal firearms recovered by police between Oct. 30 and Nov. 30.
The map, on the left, shows the individual locations of the recovered firearms. According to the police, Kevin Jackson, 29, was found fatally shot Oct. 31 on the Unit block of Mississippi Avenue, SE. Within one mile of Jackson’s death, police found 37-year-old Eugene Johnson on Nov. 7 suffering from gunshot wounds on the Unit block of Galveston Place, SE. Police recovered 13 firearms from the area.
According to the map, a firearm was also recovered less than a mile from where Nazir Ahmad was shot and killed on Nov. 3.
According to court documents, Ahmad, 68, was found fatally shot in the Valero Gas Station’s 24-hour Food Mart on the 900 block of Brentwood Road, NE. On Nov. 26, police arrested and charged Demetrius Pierce with second-degree murder while armed in connection to Ahmad’s death. Apparently, Pierce was trying to steal a cash register from the Food Mart and shot Ahmad in the process.
Pierce, 32, was the first of two arrests made in the 13 gun-related homicides. On Dec. 3, police arrested and charged Robert Theodore Smith, 26, with second-degree murder while armed for allegedly shooting 19-year-old Nya Howard-Reynolds on the Unit block of 57th Place, SE on Nov. 30.
The police collected 23 firearms within a one-mile radius of the Benning Road metro stop in Northeast DC. In the same one-mile radius, three men and Howard-Reynolds were fatally shot.
A map of illegal firearms recovered by police (blue) and gun-related homicides (yellow) between Oct.30 and Nov. 30.Map Key
Thamar Bailey, Maggi Chambers and Emily Mariano contributed to this article.
The Metropolitan Police Department is currently investigating a homicide that occurred during the early morning hours on Dec. 8.
According to a press release, 32-year-old Jacob Jones was fatally shot on the 5100 block of H Street, SE. Apparently, the victim drove to the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and Southern Avenue, SE where an accident occurred.
When police arrived on the scene of the accident, Jacobs was already dead. The Offie of the Chief Medical Examiner of the District of Columbia determined that the cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds.
Up to a $25,000 reward is being offered for information that leads to an arrest and conviction in this homicide or any other homicide in DC. Anyone with information is asked to call the police at 202-727-9099. Anonymous information may be submitted to the department’s TEXT TIP LINE — 50411.
D.C. Witness began its mission in 2015 to help put a stop to homicides in Washington, DC by supplying transparency about homicides.
We supply transparency because we know that informed tactics to prevent homicides are more useful than theories on how to protect residents in the city. We do this by collecting data on all homicides, noting any specific or irregular trends or patterns.
Despite income and population shifts in the Nation’s Capital, the city still has a plethora of homicides. According to D.C. Witness data, there have been 156 homicides in the District of Columbia as of Dec. 7, a 31 percent increase from the 119 homicides at the same time last year.
Even though D.C. Witness focuses on homicides and the court proceedings that follow, I still pause with every police notification regarding an assault or robbery where the assailant(s) was armed.
I can’t help but think if the assailant realized the outcome could have been completely different. What if their actions resulted in the death of a victim such as the case involving 14-year-old Steven Slaughter. According to court documents, Anthony Deandre Allen, along with two other individuals who the police have not apprehended, allegedly shot and killed Slaughter in a robbery attempt. Allen, 22, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on Dec. 4. His sentencing is scheduled in April of 2019. At this point, the journalist in me wants to know if he has any regret? Will he apologize to the family? Will he appeal for a lighter sentence from the judge? Why did he think armed robbery was an option? Did he realize the target was a juvenile?
The one thing anyone knows for certain, at this point, is that Slaughter is no longer alive and his family, Allen and Allen’s family’s lives will not be the same going forward.
Along with tracking individual cases, D.C. Witness also collects data on homicides in the city. Our data shows that even though homicides were lower in November than October, 21 and 11, respectively, Ward 8, which has almost always ranked high on the list for city homicides, lost the crown to Ward 5 by one homicide. According to D.C. Witness data, Ward 5 has not had the most homicides in the city since the organization began charting homicides by ward in March. The flux puts into question whether DC’s homicide-reduction measures are actually working.
This line of questioning is not meant to point the finger at the administration or blame the police. Instead, D.C. Witness, which was constructed to record all data on all homicides in DC from date-of-death to judicial resolution, wants to put the facts together in an effort to stop homicides in the city.
On Dec. 7, the Metropolitan Police Department arrested a seventh person in connection to the death of a 10-year-old girl.
According to a press release, police arrested and charged 19-year-old Darrise Jeffers with first-degree murder while armed for his alleged involvement in the fatal shooting of Makiyah Wilson on the 300 block of 53rd Street, NE. According to court documents, Wilson was killed in a shootout while she was trying to purchase icecream.
Police also arrested Quentin Michals, 20; Qujuan Thomas, 20; Gregory Taylor, 23; Mark Tee Price, 24 and Marquell Cobbs, 16, in connection to Wilson’s death. All five men are charged with first-degree murder while armed.
Quanisha Ramsuer, 25, was charged with obstruction of justice in the girl’s death.
Follow D.C. Witness for updates on the case.
<a href=”https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/5453389/12-7-18-Additonal-Arrest-Made-in-a-Homicide-300.pdf”>12 7 18 Additonal Arrest Made in a Homicide 300 Block of 53rd Street, Northeast (PDF)</a><br />
<br /> <a href=”https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/5453389/12-7-18-Additonal-Arrest-Made-in-a-Homicide-300.txt”>12 7 18 Additonal Arrest Made in a Homicide 300 Block of 53rd Street, Northeast (Text)</a><br />
The Metropolitan Police Department is investigating a fatal shooting that occurred on the 3400 block of Croffut Place, SE.
According to a press release, police located 20-year-old Leonard Ray Dec. 6 on Cruffut Place suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Ray later succumbed to his injuries at a local hospital.
Up to a $25,000 reward is being offered for information that leads to an arrest and conviction in this homicide or any other homicide in Washington, DC. Anyone with information is asked to call the police at 202-727-9099. Anonymous information may also be submitted to the department’s TEXT TIP LINE by sending a text message to 50411.
A District of Columbia magistrate judge found probable cause Dec. 4 that a murder defendant was allegedly involved in a November homicide.
Robert Theodore Smith is charged with second-degree murder while armed for allegedly shooting 19-year-old Nya Howard-Reynolds in a townhouse on the unit block of 57th Place, SE.
“Two witnesses identified two people in the same room and one ended up being dead,” the prosecutor said. He also said Smith was the first person to leave the crime scene.
Smith is being held without bond.
According to court documents, ten people, including the decedent, were present in the residence at the time of the shooting. Multiple witnesses told police they heard a gunshot from Smith’s bedroom and went to investigate. Upon entering his bedroom, residents found Howard-Reynolds lying on the floor. Witnesses told police that Smith, 22, said the victim shot herself.
Defense attorney, Kevin McCants, said his client had no motive to kill Howard-Reynolds because Smith and Howard-Reynolds didn’t know one another. McCants said Smith’s lack of criminal history should weigh heavily in his case.
Smith is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Jan. 7, 2019.
During a post-disposition status hearing, a defense attorney testified that he didn’t know an inmate who was allegedly present at a 2010 shooting.
In 2012, a jury convicted Rickey Pharr of first-degree murder, among other charges, for shooting 31-year-old Angelo Jones after a dice game on the 5300 block of Dix Street, NE.
Angelo Jones
An inmate told a judge Dec. 3 that he saw the decedent reach into his waistband while arguing with a group of people prior to the shooting. The inmate said he attempted to reach Pharr’s previous attorney, Larry Kupers, about Pharr’s innocence.
Kupers, who took the stand on Dec. 4, said the inmate never contacted him. Kupers added that if someone had approached him regarding Pharr’s innocence he would have taken their claim seriously.
Pharr, the decedent and a group of individuals were gambling on the night of the murder, according to court documents. A witness told police that after the group finished gambling Pharr, 34, approached Jones and said he was armed. The same witness reported hearing gunshots and subsequently observed Jones lying on the ground.
It is not clear if the inmate is the witness referenced in the documents.
On Dec. 3, a D.C. Superior Court judge granted an independent competency evaluation for a murder defendant who was previously deemed competent to go to trial.
Malik Hewitt and Nyekemia Everett are charged with first-degree murder while armed for their alleged involvement in the shooting death of 37-year-old Christopher Heard on the 2300 block of Ainger Place, SE. According to court documents, Everett, 33, and Hewitt, 38, allegedly planned to rob Heard and ended up shooting him in the process.
The co-defendants are also charged with felony murder while armed, conspiracy, attempt to commit robbery while armed and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence.
The co-defendants are scheduled to go to trial on March, 4, 2019.
During the hearing, Judge Danya Dayson said she received a medical report that said Hewitt is competent, understands his charges and is merely “malingering for secondary gain.”
However, Hewitt’s defense attorney, Jonathan Zucker, refuted the competency finding, saying that while his client may understand the charges he is “unable to assist in communicating with counsel.”
After Judge Dayson granted the independent evaluation, the prosecution notified the court that they may not be ready for the trial date if the defendant’s competency is continuously debated.
Everett and Davis are scheduled for a status hearing on Jan. 3, 2019.
During a preliminary hearing Dec. 4, a D.C. Superior Court judge found probable cause and ordered a murder defendant held without bond for his alleged role in his cousin’s death.
William Gallardo is charged with second-degree murder in connection to the death of 22-year-old Noe Alberto Gallardo Ponce, who was found strangled, in a rowhouse on the 1600 block of New Jersey Avenue, NW on Nov. 26. Apparently, the two men were roommates.
During the hearing, a detective on the case testified that, on the night of the murder, multiple witnesses in the house heard Gallardo, 24, and Ponce arguing. One witness said that when he went to check on them, Ponce opened the door and said they were okay.
The same witness heard loud footsteps in the hall, the detective said. Apparently, when the witness went to investigate who was leaving he saw one person running out the backdoor and into an alley.
After speaking with the residents in the rowhouse, police began searching for Gallardo and ultimately found him in a park on I Street, NW.
According to the detective, Gallardo punched and scratched the arresting officer. Police also discovered that Gallardo’s hands were swollen and there was blood underneath his fingernails.
Judge Craig Iscoe found probable cause based on the severity of the crime. Judge Iscoe said the defendant had to have used extreme force for 2-3 minutes in order to strangle Ponce to death.
The judge said Gallardo is a “significant” flight risk because he lacks community ties and his attempt to evade arrest. Ponce was Gallardo’s only known relative in the area.
Gallardo is scheduled for a felony status conference on March 8, 2019.
