The sixteen-year-old suspected of taking part in a gang melee in Petworth in October has pleaded guilty to a charge of voluntary manslaughter and two counts of assault.
Christian Navarette-Rivas appeared in court Tuesday morning to enter the plea.
According to the government’s evidence, Navarette-Rivas was driving a red Jeep Liberty, which he used to intentionally strike Miguel Drullard on Oct. 16. Drullard was drug by the car as it moved forward. He suffered serious injuries, was taken to a hospital and was pronounced dead. Drullard’s pitbull was also struck by Navarette-Rivas’ vehicle.
The collision was the culmination of a gang fight involving several people. According to court documents, the incident began around 3 p.m. on Oct. 6 in Columbia Heights, when a group of males attacked a champagne-colored vehicle stopped at a traffic light, believing the two men inside the car belonged to a rival gang. After the vehicle pulled away, the passenger in that car called Drullard to inform him of the altercation. The driver of the champagne-colored car, the passenger and Drullard, traveling in a separate vehicle, spotted the group who attacked the car in a red Jeep. Passengers in all three cars exited the vehicles and a fight ensued in Petworth, on the 4400 block of 14th Street NW.
Two people, other than Drullard, were injured in the fight and were taken to the hospital. Navarette-Rivas is charged with two counts of assault related to those victims.
“There are a lot of complicated mitigating circumstances,” Judge Ronna Beck said of the case just before accepting Navarette-Rivas’ guilty plea.
Navarette-Rivas was arrested Oct. 20 and charged as an adult. He could be sentenced to a maximum of 30 years in prison for the voluntary manslaughter charge and three years on each count of assault.
Sentencing is scheduled for April 12.
This post will be updated with plea documents.
