A repeat homicide offender accepted a plea deal before DC Superior Court Judge Neal Kravitz on Oct. 17.
Mussay Rezene, 32, was originally charged with first-degree murder while armed for his involvement in the fatal stabbing of 34-year-old Darrow Johnson on Aug. 17, 2023 at the Central Treatment Facility (CTF) of the DC Jail located on the 1900 block of E Street, SE. Johnson succumbed to his injuries on Aug. 19, 2023.
During the hearing, Camille Wagner, Rezene’s attorney, alerted the court of his intent to accept a plea deal extended by prosecutors. According to Wagner, the deal required Rezene to plead guilty to second-degree murder while armed in exchange for a dismissal of all other charges.
Through the deal, parties agreed to a sentencing range of 15-to-20 years of imprisonment.
According to the prosecution, had the case gone to trial, the prosecution would have proven beyond a reasonable doubt that on Aug. 17, 2023, Rezene repeatedly stabbed Johnson as they walked into a physical therapy room at the CTF. The incident was caught on surveillance footage, and Rezene hid the “home-made” shank that was used.
The prosecution claimed that Rezene attempted to flush the shank down a toilet, but officers were able to recover it and immediately detained Rezene for the attack.
Parties agreed that the sentence for this matter will run consecutively to all other sentences that Rezene faces or has received, including a 45-year sentence in connection to 17-year-old Brayan Villatoro’s murder on Sept. 18, 2021, and an upcoming sentence for his involvement in a Sept. 4, 2021 deadly mass shooting that killed 31-year-old Donnetta Dyson, 24-year-old Keenan Braxton, and 37-year-old Johnny Joyner, and injured three others.
According to the parties, Rezene also faces a federal case for gun trafficking.
Parties are slated to reconvene for sentencing on Oct. 30.
