Two men, one wheelchair bound, one who walks with the aid of a cane, pleaded guilty this morning to voluntary manslaughter while armed in the death of 28-year-old Gregory Joyner in Southwest DC last November.
The defendants, Carl Purvis and Timothy Foreman, both told Judge Thomas Motley that they each were armed the night of Nov. 15 and that they each shot Joyner possibly more than once.
Prosecutors had sought a first degree murder against both men, alleging in charging documents that Purvis and Foreman were upset that Joyner had robbed Purvis’ brother. When Joyner approached the men seeking to purchase marijuana, they shot at him and continued to shoot at him after he fell to the ground.
In court Friday, prosecutors said Purvis and Foreman are longtime friends who, when they encountered Joyner that night, shot him after an “exchange of words.”
“It was a heated discussion and it just really got out of hand,” Foreman explained to the court. “I remember pulling out the gun and shooting him. It’s possible I shot him more than once.”
Purvis, who was armed with a semi-automatic .45 pistol on the night Joyner was killed, said simply, “I shot the decedent.”
When Motley asked him why, Purvis responded, “on account of problems.”
Prosecutors agreed to seek a penalty of nine to thirteen years of incarceration for the voluntary manslaughter while armed guilty pleas in the cases. Motley, however, could still choose to sentence the men to the maximum penalty for the charges: 35 years incarceration and five years probation.
Sentencing is scheduled for August 26 at 10:30 a.m.
