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By
Andrea Keckley [former]
- December 10, 2021
Court
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Daily Stories
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Homicides
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Shooting
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Suspects
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Victims
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Prosecutors are keeping a plea deal for two murder co-defendants on the table until the next status hearing in January. In the meantime, the defendants’ lawyers are seeking their clients’ release based on the conditions of confinement at DC Jail.
Co-defendants Derrick Kearney and Daquan Anglin face murder charges for their alleged roles in the shooting of 26-year-old Devonte Speight on the 1800 block of Maryland Avenue, NE. The two are indicted on eight different counts in relation to the homicide that occurred on April 29, 2020.
Kearney’s attorney Lawrence Kupers, and Anglin’s attorney Dominique Winters also made arguments for their clients’ release from DC Jail during the Dec. 10 proceedings. DC Superior Court Judge Neal Kravitz said he has spent a lot of time presiding over trials since emergency release motions started being filed in cases following the U.S. Marshals Service’s findings on the facility’s conditions. While he would not make a ruling that day, he still agreed to hear arguments.
“I think the court has a duty and an obligation to make sure its detention order is being applied competently and in a constitutional manner,” Winters said.
Winters said the “harsh reality” is that “DOC is not doing much of anything to address these conditions.”
The prosecutor said if the 26-year-old defendants plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter while armed, they will dismiss all remaining charges. The plea deal does not include an agreed-upon sentencing recommendation.
A condition of the plea is that both men have to agree to it. The prosecutor said they will keep the offer open until the next status hearing on Jan. 13.
Kearney and Anglin will remain at DC Jail as they await a ruling on the motion.