Rasheed Murray and Ryan Thompson trial set for September 2018

By D.C. Witness Staff - June 5, 2017
Court | Homicides | Suspects |

The trial date for two men who were allegedly drag racing when they struck and killed another driver was scheduled for September of next year, more than three years after the incident.

Ryan Thompson and Rasheed Murray have been charged with second-degree murder for the death of Matthew Jeffrey Roth in July 2015.

With Roth’s father in the courtroom, Judge Milton Lee, attorneys and the prosecutor went back and forth trying to find a date that would allow all parties to make the two-week trial.

After flipping through several months, the parties reached a trial start date of July 19, 2018. But after a prosecutor spoke to Roth’s father, donning a sports jersey with his son’s name embroidered on the back, the prosecutor relayed to the court that this trial date would coincide with the anniversary of Roth’s death and said it would be “traumatic for the family” for the trial to proceed on that date.

All parties then agreed that the soonest available date for a trial is September 2018.

Both Thompson and Murray have been released on bail as the case continues. Thompson arrived late and Murray did not make an appearance.

During the hearing, the attorneys for both defendants notified the judge of their intention to file motions to “sever”– to argue for the two men to be tried separately.

The motions will be discussed at a hearing this September.

Thompson’s attorney also asked that his client’s driving restrictions be removed, as it takes hours for him to get to and from work on the bus and metro systems. Milton swiftly denied this request and kept the driving restrictions in place.

Both men are due back in court September 29.