On the day he was to go to trial for first-degree murder this week, Samson Alemayhu instead pleaded guilty, admitting that he killed Assefaw Hagos in a fatal stabbing in May 2010 outside an Ethiopian restaurant in Northwest DC.
The charge was dropped to second-degree murder while armed in the plea agreement. The case was scheduled to go to trial Monday.
Washington City Paper reported on the murder in June 2010, reporting
Silver Spring resident Assefaw Hagos was having some drinks last Friday at Salina, an Ethiopian-style restaurant also serving Italian food at 1936 9th Street NW.
Sometime after the dramatic conclusion to Game 5 of the NBA semifinals between the Phoenix Suns and the L.A. Lakers, Hagos, 40, asked the restaurant’s proprietor, Terfneh Kahsay, if he could go upstairs, where a card game was underway.
It was simply a friendly card game–no money, no booze–Kahsay said. The owner was closing shop with a waitress when someone knocked on the door of his restaurant and informed him that Hagos and Samson Alemayhu, 48, were fighting outside.
When police arrived on the scene at approximately 2:19 a.m., Hagos was lying on the sidewalk outside the establishment, suffering from stab wounds. He later died.
Alemayhu will be sentenced by Judge Lynn Leibovitz on Oct. 20.
