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By
D.C. Witness Staff
- May 20, 2019
Court
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Homicides
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Policy
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Suspects
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The prosecution notified the court May 20 that it was in the midst of obtaining case evidence from another prosecutor in Virginia.
Joshua Artis is charged with first-degree murder while armed, conspiracy and obstruction of justice, among other charges, for his alleged role in the death of 28-year-old Ryan Addison on the 200 block of Elmira Street, SW in 2015.
During the hearing, a prosecutor from the United States Attorney’s Office from the Eastern District of Virginia said she has thousands of documents that relate to a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) operation that arrested a gang member that is related to the case.
Operation “Tin Panda“arrested and convicted 50 people, including the leader of the Imperial Gangsta Bloods, IGB, “a criminal organization operating in the United States, including in Northern Virginia and the District of Columbia,” according to a grand jury indictment.
Apparently, the IGB leader pleaded guilty to conspiracy in connection to Addison’s death, among other charges.
According to a grand jury indictment, Artis is a member of IGB and was “authorized” by an IGB leader to travel from Virginia to Washington, DC to kill Addison, who they believed killed Rodney Davis, a friend of theirs. Davis was fatally shot on the Unit block of Galveston Place, SW in 2015.
The Virginia prosecutor said that some of the evidence is available today and that the rest would take a couple of days to send.
DC Superior Court Judge Ronna Beck said the prosecution has until May 23 to hand over the first batch of evidence and until May 28 to hand over the rest.
Defense attorney, Judith Pipe, said that because of the large amount of evidence, she’s not requesting that the data be “culled” or reduced to only relevant information. However, Pipe did say she still expects the prosecution to identify portions of the data that would be relevant.
Artis is scheduled to go to trial on June 3. Artis’ trial date is contingent on the Interstate Act on Detainers, an agreement entered by the United States and the District of Columbia that sets limitations on the timespan of cases brought to trial.
The act solely applies to prisoners sentenced for unrelated trials that are transferred between two states. The act states that if the prisoner’s trial doesn’t occur within 120 days of the prisoner’s arrival in the state, then the case is dismissed with prejudice.
Artis is scheduled for a status hearing on May 23.