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Maricco Knight again charged with involvement in murder

A third suspect has been charged in connection with the murder of Marcellus Green.

Dominique Williams and Steven Pugh were charged with the murder of Green. Green, 39, was found on Sept. 19, 2015.

Maricco Knight, 22, was initially arrested and charged with his murder, but the prosecution declined to move ahead with the charges at the time. Knight has now been charged with charges relating to the murder, including soliciting murder and obstruction of justice.

Knight’s jury trial is set to begin on Feb. 5, 2018.

He is currently in the high intensity supervision program, and set to appear in court on Sept. 29 for a status hearing.

Teen ordered held without bail on murder charge


The teenager charged with the alleged murder of Malachi Yisrael was ordered held without bail.

Lamont McDonald, 16, was charged with Yisrael’s murder last week. Yisrael and a juvenile male were found suffering from gunshot wounds in the 300 block of 50th St., NE. Yisrael died from his injuries.

McDonald is being held as his case continues, and is being tried as an adult.

Timothy Johnson offered plea deal

 

A man who allegedly caused a car accident that killed a 50-year-old woman while high on PCP was offered a plea deal.

Timothy Johnson, charged with second-degree murder, would plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter and felony assault if he accepted the plea deal for the accident, which killed Kim Moore and injured four others. In exchange for his guilty plea, Johnson would serve 86 months in prison.

A deadline for indicting Johnson on the murder charge tolls on July 31, but was extended as the two sides discuss the deal.

Johnson would plead guilty with what is known as an Alford plea. This is done in situations where a defendant acknowledges the government may have enough evidence to convict them, but the defendant will not agree to the facts involved. The reason Johnson would be unable to plead guilty based on the facts the government has against him was because he was under the influence of PCP at the time of the crash.

According to police, on the afternoon of Oct. 29, 2016 Johnson was driving at a high rate of speed when he crossed over the yellow lane and struck a Honda Civic, being driven by Moore. Johnson’s car struck another car, flipped onto it’s roof, and struck a pole. Johnson fled the scene. Moore’s car struck two parked cars and came to rest in the middle of the lane. Moore died at the hospital, and four other injured people recovered from their injuries.

 

Maurice Bellamy’s murder trial delayed



The trial for a man charged with the murder of an off-duty Secret Service Officer and a teenager, was pushed back on Friday.

Maurice Bellamy is charged with first-degree murder while armed for allegedly fatally shooting Arthur Baldwin. In a separate incident, he also stands accused of the murder of Davonte Washington.

The defense asked for the date to be moved back so they could conduct some DNA testing of their own.

The initial trial date of August 28 was vacated and rescheduled for February 26 of next year.

Bellamy is set to appear in court next on Oct. 20 for a felony status hearing.

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.