Lloyd Bright was arraigned Tuesday on a charge of second-degree murder in connection with the death of 61-year-old Darryl Eugene Sweet Sr. Bright pleaded innocent to the charge and a trial date has been scheduled for April 2014.
On July 26, 2012, Sweet was found unconscious in the 3800 block of Minnesota Avenue Northeast; he was taken to a hospital where doctors determined he had suffered an internal head wound. Sweet died the next day; a medical examiner determined the cause of death to be blunt force trauma to the head and ruled the manner of death a homicide.
In a preliminary hearing last year, prosecutors showed surveillance video recorded July 26 in the 3800 block of Minnesota Avenue NE. The footage is poor quality, but prosecutors say it shows Bright, 45, hitting Sweet and Sweet then falling to the ground.
Prosecutors say Bright and Sweet were arguing over money that Sweet owed to someone else and that Bright hit Sweet because he felt like Sweet was disrespecting him.
Janet Mitchell, Bright’s defense attorney, argued that Bright slapped Sweet with an open palm and couldn’t have known that slapping him once would cause him to fall to the ground, hit his head and, ultimately, die.
The case is scheduled for a status hearing in March 2014.
The indictment is below.
