On Sept. 20, Anthony Speight pled guilty to a charge of second-degree murder while armed in the January 2011 shooting of Billy Mitchell, bringing to end a case that garnered widespread attention and led District and community leaders to say that they would address crime in the gentrifying neighborhoods of Truxton Circle and Bloomingdale.
According to a proffer of facts signed by Speight and his attorneys, Speight shot Mitchell after an altercation involving an unnamed woman and an attempted robbery.
According to those documents, Speight approached the young woman on a bicycle at about 11:00 p.m. on Jan. 19, 2011, and propositioned her for sex. When she refused, he approached Mitchell, who was waiting at a bus stop at Florida Avenue and North Capitol Street Northwest, and demanded money from him, leading to a confrontation during which Speight revealed a silver .357 revolver.
When the woman came to Mitchell’s defense and threatened to call the police, Speight knocked her cell phone out of her hand and ran over it repeatedly with a bicycle. Mitchell then jumped on Speight’s back and the two of them fell to the ground.
According to the proffer, during the struggle, Speight said, “This is what I’ve been waiting for,” or something to that effect, and he shot Mitchell four times before fleeing on his bike.
Speight was arrested more than 11 months after the shooting, and admitted to detectives during a post-arrest interview that he had shot Mitchell. In June he was indicted on eight charges including first-degree murder, felony murder, assault, and threats in addition to four weapons charges.
Speight is scheduled for sentencing on Nov. 30 at 11 a.m.
Plea documents will be added to this post shortly.
