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Eugene Burns found guilty of murder


Eugene Burns, charged with the murder of his supposed best friend, Onyekachi Osuchukwu III, was found guilty by a jury on Wednesday. He faces a potential sentence of life in prison.

Osuchukwu was found by police in the 2900 block of 2nd Street, SE in November of 2015. He had succumbed to gunshot wounds by the time emergency workers arrived.

According to the prosecution, Osuchukwu’s death was premeditated. Following a drug-related dispute, Burns began to plot the murder of his friend, inviting him into D.C. to do so. On November 14, the day before police found Osuchukwu, the victim was lured into Burns’ mother’s house, where Burns shot and killed him. After fleeing the scene, Burns returned the next day with relatives to “discover” Osuchukwu dead.

After seeing all the evidence and hearing a testimony from Burns himself, who changed his original story to self-defense, the jury sided with the prosecution.

Judge Hiram E. Puig-Lugo has scheduled the sentencing to take place on September 29, 2017.

Murder charges against Derrick Carter and Tyrale Johnson dismissed


Two men charged with the murder of Melvin Williams have been released from custody after being held for nearly two years.

The case against Derrick Carter and Tyrale Johnson was dismissed “temporarily” in a hearing Thursday morning, when the prosecution claimed they didn’t have enough time to respond to allegations made by the defense to move forward.

Police found Williams suffering from multiple gunshot wounds on the 2300 block of Ainger Place, SE in July of 2015. According to the autopsy, Williams was shot in the head from a distance with what the warrant describes as an assault rifle. The victim was pronounced dead by the time emergency workers arrived.

A third suspect was also charged, but not with murder. Instead, Antwon Fulmore was charged with accessory after the fact, and was also released from his charges Thursday. He had released under supervision since September of 2015.

The prosecution asked that the charges be dropped against Carter and Johnson until they have enough time to respond the defense’s allegations. Judge Zoe Bush allowed for the dismissal but said “these three young men deserve a fair trial” and the time and attention should be given when the case reopens.

Three men charged with the murder of Matthew Shlonsky to be be tried together next summer


The trial for the three men charged with the murder of Matthew Shlonsky is scheduled for next June.

Andre Dudley, Christopher Proctor, and Marcus King will be tried together on charges that they murdered Shlonsky, who was caught in crossfire while exiting his car near the 1800 block of Seventh St., NW on Aug. 15 2015.

In a status hearing a few weeks earlier, the date of trial was discussed along with trying the men them separately.

During the follow-up that took place on Friday, Proctor’s attorney again brought up the fact that King wants to testify for Proctor. Because of King’s attorney’s preference for a certain DNA testing expert, the trial was moved from this October to June of next year, because the expert in DNA testing would not be available during trial.

The attorneys for Proctor and Dudley talked about splitting up the defendants, in order to get the trial in sooner, but the Judge said there is no basis doing this.

Proctor’s attorney mentioned to the Judge that Proctor has been placed in administrative segregation which is unfair. Proctor claimed that when he asked people at the jail, he was told that he was in administrative segregation due to a segregation request being in place from the prosecution. His attorney argued for him to be released and the judge told him he needs to file a motion for release.

The three are set to appear in court next on Oct. 10 for a status hearing.

 

 

 

Judge demands progress in DNA tests before trial


In the trial readiness hearing for Charles McRae, Willie Glover and Joseph Barbour, Judge Hiram Puig-Lugo demanded both sides get more organized with their DNA testing, and how they share the results of those tests.

Only two of the co-defendants, McRae and Glover were present for the trial readiness hearing, as Barbour’s presence was waived.

Puig-Lugo said that the government has four months to figure out a scheduling issue before the tentative November trial because he doesn’t want to have to push the trial start date into 2018.

A hearing was scheduled for July 28,  where they will discuss the DNA testing results.

Darryn Conte’s friend gives emotional testimony at trial

A friend of murder victim Darryn Conte, who found his friend after being shot, gave an emotional testimony during the trial for Conte’s alleged killer.

Mark Beasley is on trial for allegedly shooting Conte on April 26, 2015.

Conte’s friend and Conte had worked together, and the friend was Conte the night he was killed at the Takoma Station Club.

When the witness left the club, he walked down heard a shooting. After the shooting stopped, he approached the car and saw Conte and another person suffering from a gunshot wound. The witness then ran back to the club to try and get help, before returning to the car to find Conte unconscious.

The Uber driver that testified earlier, continued his testimony, marking on an aerial photo where he had seen the man with the gun in the street.

16-year-old charged with murder of Malachi Yisrael


Police have arrested and charged a 16-year-old with murder.

Police announced on Thursday the arrest of Lamont McDonald. McDonald is being charged with second-degree murder while armed and is being tried as an adult.

On the evening of July 5, two men, one of whom was identified as Malachi Yisrael, were found suffering from gunshot wounds in the 300 block of 50th St., NE. Both were transported to a nearby hospital. Yisrael died from his injuries.

El Hadji Alpha Madiou Toure ruled incompetent to stand trial

After days spent speaking with a social worker, El Hadji Alpha Madiou Toure has been deemed incompetent to stand trial for the murder charges made against him.  

Toure allegedly tortured and stole thousands of dollars from 34-year-old Corrina Mehiel, who was found dead in her apartment. Upon arrest in March, one week following Mehiel’s death, Toure was charged with both first-degree murder and theft.

Judge Lyn Leibovitz ordered a full competency evaluation Monday morning, which will further investigate Toure’s ability to continue with the trial. Leibovitz, the defense and the prosecution plan to reconvene on August 4 to discuss the results of the evaluation and how to move forward.

New evidence in case against Kimberly Thompson further delays trial start date


As new evidence is brought to light in the case against Kimberly Thompson, the defense asked Monday that the trial be postponed until April of 2018.

Preparations for the trial were set to begin Monday.

Thompson was charged with the murder of Charles Mayo in January of 2016, almost one month after the police found Mayo suffering from multiple gunshot wounds behind 1936 Bennett Pl., NE. According to the police, Mayo attempted to identify his shooter but was in too much distress to do more than point at an apartment building. He died a week later in an area hospital.

A red baseball cap, along with other pieces of evidence, have recently been discovered and may provide weight to the trial, the defense argued Monday morning. Thompson’s attorneys asked Judge Lyn Leibovitz that they be given enough time to test the new evidence for DNA.

Upon granting the defense continuance, the prosecution made great efforts to push the start of the trial back even further. However, Leibovitz settled for nothing later than April 30, 2018, which will mark over two years since Mayo’s death.

The evidence, as well as motions made by both sides, will be discussed in court on October 27.

Murder suspect testifies on last day of trial

The man charged with the murder of Onyekachi Osuchukwu III testified at his own trial that he shot his friend in self defense during an argument about their strategy for selling drugs.

Eugene Burns, charged with first-degree murder while armed testified on the last day of his trial that he and Osuchukwu were shipping drugs from California to DC. Osuchukwu was visiting from California, and at Burns’ mother’s home when he was killed.

Burns testified he ordered Osuchukwu’s plane ticket to DC on his mom’s debit card, but accidentally charged her card twice. She became angry, and ordered the shipments to stop. Osuchukwu was angered by this, Burns testified, because he didn’t have anywhere else to ship the drugs. Their supplier was also unhappy because the drugs weren’t being sold fast enough.

Burns testified that while Osuchukwu became mad when he suggested changing their strategy to sell the drugs faster while at his mom’s apartment. Osuchukwu allegedly looked around the apartment for a gun, Burns testified. In the interim, Burns got his own gun from under the couch and put it in his waistband. Burns refused to tell Osuchukwu where his gun was, and testified Osuchukwu reached for something under his shirt and charged at him. Burns testified he pulled out his gun hoping it would get Osuchukwu to stop, but the two got into a struggle. Burns said he was able to get a grip on the gun, and he fired several shots into Osuchukwu. He testified he lied to police because he did not know there were self-defense laws in DC.

As to text messages introduced in court and google searches regarding murder, Burns denied either of those were related to planning Osuchukwu’s murder. He said the web history on his phone relating to murder was just the result of his taking a quiz on Facebook titled “Are you capable of killing your best friend?” which caused him to stumble onto other pages.

 

 

Arrest made three years after fatal assault

Three years after Edward Lee Moore was assaulted, police have charged a man with his murder.

In May 2014, Moore was found unconscious in the intersection of Fenwick Street and Okie Street, NE. Moore was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he remained until succumbing to his injuries in November of 2016.

According to an autopsy, Moore died from complications following blunt head and neck trauma. His death was ruled a homicide at the beginning of this year.

Following a police investigation, Desean Burt, 32, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.

Detectives discuss suspect identification process before trial


Before the trial against Mark Beasley began, the prosecution brought in two homicide detectives to cement Beasley’s role in the murder of Darryn Conte.

Beasley, 42, allegedly shot and killed Conte, 39, on April 26, 2015 in the 400 block of Butternut St., NW.

Beasley’s defense claimed witnesses identification of him as a suspect was not reliable, and was instead the result of investigators suggesting who the witness was.

A lead detective spoke of the process for putting together a photo array. He arranged multiple pictures of suspects, which the witnesses used to chose who they thought was the suspect.

He said that two witnesses both identified Beasley as the suspect from the nine photos in the array.

The next testimony came from the detective that assisted with the interview of both witnesses.

After the testimony, Judge Jose Lopez ruled that the detectives did not suggest to the witnesses who to choose, and that reliability of witnesses is a question for the Jury.

Delonte Wynn found guilty


The man charged with the murder of Darlene Bryant in 2015 was found guilty.

Delonte Wynn was found guilty of first-degree premeditated murder while armed.

Throughout the trial, the defense argued Wynn’s innocence based on the belief that two key witnesses, Donnell Howard and Charles King, testified falsely to convict Wynn and receive benefits from the prosecution. A thread of texts and phone calls that was meant to corroborate the prosecution’s argument ultimately showed no evidence and no motive, the defense argued. Similarly, the defense claimed the DNA evidence collected excluded Wynn and his presence at the scene of the crime.

The jury ultimately decided in favor of the prosecution, who brought in over 15 witnesses. The prosecution focused on the stories of Donnell Howard and Charles King. However, unlike the defense, they emphasized the legitimacy of these two testimonies, as well as the corroboration of other testimonies. Using these testimonies and the text thread between Wynn, his child’s mother, and Bryant, the prosecution was able to convince the jury of motive. The video footage from the apartment complex was constantly brought to the screen for the jury to show the suspect running from the scene of the crime. While the DNA samples collected excluded Wynn, the prosecution also constantly reminded the jury that Wynn did not have to touch the victim in order to stab her.

Wynn is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 11.

Troy Souder arrested months after the murder of Marcus Barnes


A man was arrested for the murder of Marcus Barnes who was found dead in November 2016.

Barnes was found in the 100 Block of Irvington St., SW., suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. The victim was transported to a hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.

Troy Souder, 26, has been charged with second-degree murder while armed for his death.

Judge finds probable cause to hold suspect in death of Antonio Bassett


Judge Lynn Leibovitz has found probable cause that Chad Hawthorne, arrested last month for the murder of Antonio Bassett, committed second-degree murder while armed.

Leibovitz also declared Hawthorne a danger to society, and ordered him imprisoned without bail.

At a preliminary hearing, Hawthorne’s attorney called upon the detective in charge of the case to testify in front of the defense, the prosecution, and the judge.

According to the detective, at least four people were in a room in an apartment complex on the 3900 block of Pennsylvania Ave., SE. when the victim, Bassett, was shot and killed. One witness claims to have been in the bathroom when the sound of the shot rang out, and the other claims to have seen Hawthorne run out of the room following the shot. While testimonies suggest Bassett had recently stolen from Hawthorne, neither of the witnesses have confirmed seeing the suspect pull the trigger, seeing the suspect with a pistol, or hearing an argument.

Some controversy arose when the detective was questioned about the cameras corroborating the witnesses’ testimonies. One camera was able to catch the witnesses and their actions following the shooting, including a 911 call to the police, while another camera was able catch some activity outside of the apartment where Bassett was found. This activity did not include Hawthorne running out of the room.

Overall, the detective gave vague answers to the defense, telling the attorney to look back at the written statement for details.

The hearing ended with the prosecution questioning the detective about probable cause for murder. While it could be argued the cameras did not catch Hawthorne running out of the room, there were nearby exits that may have allowed Hawthorne to leave without triggering the motion detectors on the cameras, according to the prosecution. This, along with self-incriminating statements made by the suspect and previous convictions, led Leibovitz to find probable cause and “a clear case of dangerousness.”

Hawthorne’s next court appearance will be on Sept. 12.