Ellsworth Colbert was ordered held yesterday on suspicion of second degree murder in the stabbing death of Robert Wright.
Some news reports, including this one from CBSDC/AP say that the crime occurred when the two men fought over a dog defecating on a lawn.
But WUSA reports that Colbert’s attorney says Wright threatened his client with the dog.
Macho the Dog is tied up on the back porch of his home, no sign that he could have been intimidating enough to push a man to murder. But James Beane, Colbert’s lawyer said that’s exactly what happened. He says Wright and the dog’s owner cornered Colbert and threatened him with the dog. “Anybody who thinks this had anything to do with dog poop doesn’t know what they’re talking about,” he said.
The Washington Post reports that Colbert is known in city politics, adding that he testified just Thursday at a city meeting.
On Thursday, Colbert testified before D.C. Council member Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4) during her oversight proceedings for the Office of Employee Appeals during which he said he had been unemployed since a 1997 incident in which he was fired from his job as a traffic signal technician after an altercation with his boss.
He had previously been barred from the John A. Wilson Building. D.C. Council Secretary Nyasha Smith said Monday that the stay-away order was in effect as recently as last March but has since expired.
“This has been going on for 14 years,” Colbert testified Thursday. “I guess they thought I was going to die . . . but I ain’t. I’ve been here 56 years. I’m Southeast born, I’m Southeast bred, and when I die, I’ll be Southeast dead.”
