Appearing lighthearted and occasionally smiling, Kwan Kearney and Jeremy Risper each entered a plea of “not guilty” today to charges related to the November slaying of Jamal Wilson in Northwest D.C.
Kearney and Risper are both charged with premeditated first-degree murder while armed as well as various firearms offenses.
Wilson, a 19-year-old known as “Mally,” was shot through the chest after being pursued by two men in the Truxton Circle neighborhood, MPD Homicide Detective Hosam Nasr testified at a preliminary hearing for the case.
Six days before Wilson was shot, 17-year-old Joseph Alonzo Sharps Jr. was shot and killed in Northeast DC. Nasr said at the preliminary hearing that a .45 caliber gun recovered from the scene of Wilson’s murder is believed to be the same gun that was used in Sharps’ murder. Kearney is charged in both cases and the government has extended a plea deal that offers a 45-year sentence in exchange for pleading guilty in both cases.
On Tueday Judge Thomas Motley set a status hearing date for Sept. 22, by which time Kearney and Risper will have had to decide whether or not they wish to plead guilty or proceed to trial. Motley set a trial date of March 12 in the case.
Kearney and Larnell Allen, charged in Sharps’ death, are scheduled for a status hearing on Friday and a jury trial on Oct. 31.
