Seven DC men convicted of killing Catherine Fuller in 1984 will be back in court Monday to be retried, WTOP reports.
In 1984, 48-year-old Catherine Fuller was dragged into an alley in Northeast D.C. and brutally murdered in broad daylight. Police say no one came to her aid, and it was all over her rings and $50 in cash.
And at least one witness now says he lied at the original trial because he was afraid of police.
Now, 27 years later, a judge has ruled there’s enough evidence for a retrial.
Starting Monday, the defendants, original prosecutors, detectives and the witnesses will have the opportunity to tell their stories again.
In June 1985, D.C. Metropolitan Police Deputy Chief Alfonso Gibson told the Associated Press that the then recent killing of 49-year-old Catherine Fuller was “probably one of the most brutal murders that ever took place in Washington.”
Catherine Fuller’s life ended as the sun was setting on Oct. 1, 1984. As she walked home from a grocery store, a group of young toughs followed her. They murdered her in a garage. The crime attracted scant notice.
The police arrested a suspect three days later, one more on Nov. 29, two on Dec. 4, five on Dec. 9 and, intermittently, more suspects as the investigation continued.
The last arrest was May 22.
Sixteen young men, ages ranging from 17 to 22, stand accused of felony murder—a slaying that occurs in the commission of a felony, in this case robbery.
“To the best of my knowledge, it is the largest number of arrests in a single homicide in the city’s history,” said Lt. William White III, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Police Department.
