The Metropolitan Police Department is searching for a suspect in connection to the fatally stabbing of Maria Antoinette Evans, 52, on the 500 Block of Oakwood Street, SE on March 29.
A video of the suspect can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/pGDNHjIgWY4.
On March 29, nine days after a 2014 murder trial began, one of the defendants said he shot Willard Carlos Shelton in self defense.
James Young and Tyrone Height are charged with the alleged shooting death of Shelton on Aug. 31, 2014, in the parking lot of an apartment complex on the 2500 block of Pomeroy Road, SE. Young, 25, and Height, 25, are charged with first-degree murder among other charges.
“The truth is I did it,” Young said. “Back in 2014, I didn’t want that to get out at all.” He said he didn’t initially claim self defense because he did not know it was legal in Washington, D.C.
Young admitted to lying to the Metropolitan Police Department, a judge who previously presided over the case and the prosecution.
“Me knowing that a life was taken and I was responsible…I wasn’t trying to tell the truth,” he said. Young told the jury that he decided March 29 that it was time to finally tell the truth.
However, the prosecution insisted that Young waited so long to claim self defense because he did not shoot Shelton to defend himself, suggesting that Young’s statements to the jury were also lies. The prosecution is charging Young and Height with robbery and burglary while armed.
So, what happened?
According to Young, he owed Shelton $150 for a shotgun. On the morning of the homicide, Shelton came to collect, but Young said he didn’t have the money. He offered to give Shelton $150 worth of PCP, a drug Shelton was known for using, but he said Shelton grabbed him and wielded a .22 caliber revolver before he could get the drugs.
Young said he pistol whipped Shelton with a gun he was carrying and ran off. He said the two shot at one another while he was running through the parking lot. Young said one of his bullets struck Shelton.
Young said he ran into a woman’s apartment. According to Young, the two had a close relationship and he considered her as his grandmother. They are not related.
However, the woman testified that she had never seen Young before that day. Young told the jury that the woman lied on the stand because she testified to knowing a person named Dink, which, Young said, was one of his nicknames.
When Young left the woman’s apartment, he said he saw Shelton lying on the ground. Young told the jury Shelton was still alive when he took his gun, keys and wallet.
A DNA expert testified March 28 that the revolver contained DNA from at least two people with at least one of those people being male. However, the expert said there was not an efficient amount of DNA on the revolver to determine who held the gun.
Trial nears end
Height decided to not testify.
The trial is expected to continue on April 2 with the prosecution presenting more evidence and closing arguments.
On March 29, the Metropolitan Police Department discovered a woman suffering from apparent stab wounds on the 500 Block of Oakwood Street, SE. The woman was declared dead at a local hospital.
The police department is waiting to notify the decedent’s family before releasing her name.
A reward is available for information that leads to an arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for any homicide committed in D.C.
After seven days of arguments from the prosecution, the outcome of continuing a murder trial became uncertain when a detective from the Metropolitan Police Department incriminated the defendants during his testimony about an eyewitness.
James Young and Tyrone Height have been charged with first-degree murder while armed, felony murder while armed and other charges, including obstruction of justice, in the shooting death of Willard Carlos Shelton, 38, on Aug. 31, 2014. The homicide occurred on the 2500 block of Pomeroy Road, SE. Young, 24, and Height, 25, were apprehended on Sept. 3, 2014.
The officer testified March 27 to why an eyewitness in the case ended up staying in temporary housing, supplied by the MPD, for an extended period of time.
“We learned about a possible threat on [the witnesses] life,” the officer told the jury in response to the prosecution’s question.
Defense attorneys Joseph Caleb, Height’s lawyer, and Ferris Bond, Young’s lawyer, objected to the statement because they said they believed it unfairly accused their clients of the same behavior the young men were already on trial for.
As a plausible solution, Judge Milton Lee gave the prosecution and the defense an opportunity to write a cautionary instruction for the jury so they would not acknowledge the statement.
However, the defense stressed that an instruction could not remedy the situation. The defense requested that Judge Lee order a mistrial because the statement placed bias on the jury to favor a guilty verdict.
Judge Lee said he will decide if he will give the jury a cautionary instruction or call a mistrial on March 28.
On March 28, Judge Lee ruled that the trial would continue. He also ruled that special instruction on the detective’s testimony would not be given to the jury per the defense’s request.
After considering several factors, including a fatal shooting during the daylight hours and an active dispute between young men in differing neighborhoods, a superior court judge found both defendants charged with the alleged murder of Maleak Coffin to have substantial probable cause.
Robert Washington and Derrick Hart are charged with first-degree murder while armed in the 2017 shooting. Judge Judith Bartnoff ordered March 26 that the men be held without bail while they wait for a Grand Jury trial.
Two days before Christmas, Coffin, 22, was found suffering from two gunshot wounds to the left temple and shoulder on the 2900 block of Martin Luther King Avenue, SE. He was declared dead three days later at George Washington University Hospital. A Metropolitan Police Department detective said there were rumors that the homicide was a retaliatory act from an earlier shooting a few nights before.
According to testimony from the detective, the shooting allegedly occurred after several young men parted ways at a mini-mart located on Martin Luther King Avenue, SE. Hart, 22, was captured by a surveillance camera running down an ally with a gun and shooting at a vehicle that was stopped at a gas station. The vehicle stopped in an ally behind the gas station.
Washington, 20, who was driving in the opposite direction, made a U-turn after the initial shots and drove up to the vehicle in the ally. A surveillance camera captures Washington’s car slow down in front of the stopped vehicle. According to the Metropolitan Police Department, additional shots were fired at the vehicle, but the video does not show any shots coming from Washington’s car.
Police found 21 shell casings from two different guns — a large caliber gun and a 9 millimeter gun.
Washington was arrested on traffic charges days later. A 9 millimeter, matching the casings found at the crime scene, was recovered close to where Washington was arrested. Police have not recovered the large caliber gun.
The defense argued several points to both Hart and Washington’s separate interests.
Hart’s attorney, Jonathan Zucker, argued an imperfect self defense on his client’s behalf. He said Hart had reason to fear for his life because Coffin was armed and driving a stolen vehicle. According to defense counsel, most drive-by shootings occur from stolen vehicles.
However, Judge Bartnoff refuted Zucker’s argument, referencing that Hart was walking away from the gas station before he decided to run back and allegedly shoot Coffin.
Washington’s attorneys disagreed with the prosecution’s inference that he was working with Hart to “ambush” Coffin. However, the judge’s ruling stemmed from Washington changing directions to drive to the scene and allegedly shoot another round of bullets at Coffin’s car.
A felony status hearing is scheduled for May 11.
On March 24, Sean Anderson was fatally shot on the 2300 Block of Good Hope Road, SE. The Metropolitan Police Department is currently investigating the homicide. Anyone with information that leads to an arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for any homicide committed in D.C. could receive a reward.
Anthony Smith, 33, was found on the 2300 block of Raynolds Place, SE with multiple gunshot wounds on March 24. I was pronounced dead on the scene.
The Metropolitan Police Department arrested 35 year-old Fredrick Lorenzo Nowlin Jr.March 22 and charged him with second-degree murder while armed for the alleged stabbing death of 52-year-old Andre Butler.
33-year-old Derrick Wright, a resident of Upper Marlboro, Md., was fatally stabbed on the 1300 Block of Florida Avenue, NE during the early morning hours of March 24.
A man convicted of second-degree murder while armed for a fatal shooting that occurred 20 years ago recently testified that he was in Maryland with his girlfriend at the time of the homicide.
Venlonte Bethea, 43, is in the process of appealing a guilty verdict reached in 2002 for the homicide of Deante Lacay Howe that occurred on the 700 block of Malcolm X Ave, SE on Sept. 21, 1998.
During a motions hearing, Bethea said he was not satisfied with the work of his previous attorney, Michael Lasley, because he failed to subpoena several witnesses who would’ve testified to Bethea’s innocence.
According to Bethea, a neighbor could invalidate the testimony of one of the prosecution’s key witnesses. During the murder trial, the witness testified that she saw Bethea shoot the victim from a neighbor’s window. However, that neighbor told Judge Craig Iscoe March 22 that he was not home and “there is no way physically possible” for the woman to have been in his residence during the time of the incident.
Neither Bethea’s neighbor nor his girlfriend were called to testify during the trial.
Assistant United States Attorney Pamela Satterfield said Bethea did not say he was in Maryland during the trial. Satterfield also said the neighbor could not be sure the witness wasn’t in his home because he wasn’t there.
Satterfield said the prosecution will likely call Lasley as a witness at a status hearing on May 1. Judge Iscoe ordered the prosecution to provide a status report to his chambers by April 17.
Travis Courtney Ennis, 26, was fatally shot on the 2900 Block of Langston Place, SE on March 21.
Co-defendants in the shooting death of 27-year-old Arthur Thompkins were recently found to have probable cause in the homicide.
Thompkins was allegedly shot to death in the front seat of his pickup truck on the 5400 Block of Hunt Place, NE on Oct. 17, 2017. The Metropolitan Police Department found thirteen shell casings in the bed and cab of the truck.
Judge Danya Dayson ruled that Markale Moore, 29, had substantial probability for first-degree murder while armed. Judge Dayson said she made her ruling from testimony from a witness who was riding with Thompkins. The witness said Moore, 29, shot Thompkins. Her ruling was also based on Moore telling another witness, “I did it because it had to be done,” in reference to the shooting.
In addition, Judge Dayson said she found probable cause to believe that Tyrone Harris aided and abetted Moore with the homicide.
The lead detective in the case said the night allegedly began with Harris storming onto the 5300 Block of Jay Street,NE, located in the Burrville neighborhood, angry at rumors that he and Moore were shooting at each other.
While on the street, Harris spoke to Thompkins and another person briefly. He eventually met Moore on Jay Street. The two men spoke before Moore began to walk toward Hunt Place, the detective said.
Witnesses said they saw Harris give Moore a gun shortly before the shooting. Witnesses also said they saw Harris drive next to Moore in a dark colored sedan. The sedan is confirmed as being on the scene from nearby surveillance cameras. It is not clear if Thompkins circulated the rumors.
The judge ordered both men be held without bail. The judge also said she would recommend Harris for a transfer to the Correctional Treatment Facility so that he could take advantage of life and job skills programs.
The case is waiting to be presented to a grand jury. A felony status conference is scheduled to be held on June 27.
A GPS tracker shows one of the defendants in a 2014 murder trial traveled from one corridor in the city to another immediately after allegedly shooting Willard Carlos Shelton.
A witness told the jury Tyrone Height, who, at the time, was on probation for an unrelated crime, was located at the scene of the shooting on the 2500 block of Pomeroy Road, SE on Aug. 31, 2014, around the time Shelton, 38, was killed. Height’s device showed him leaving the scene and traveling to Northeast D.C. in the early morning hours on Sept. 1, 2014.
Height, 25, and James Young have been charged with first-degree murder while armed.
Additionally, a firearms expert testified that shell casings and damage to nearby cars showed bullets were more than likely coming from one direction, which invalidates any claims of self-defense.
Carl Gray died March 16 from wounds he obtained from a shooting in 2017. The Metropolitan Police Department found Gray, 25, along with another man in an apartment on the 3100 block of Buena Vista Terrace, SE.
The Metropolitan Police Department found Aujee Tyler, 22, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds on the 3500 Block of Stanton Rd., SE on March 19. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
