Deon Jefferson pleaded guilty Thursday to voluntary manslaughter and armed robbery in connection with the 2012 stabbing death of 18-year-old Olijawon Griffin. Jefferson is scheduled to be sentenced December 13.
Griffin was stabbed and killed in the Woodley Park Metro station Nov. 17, 2012. A grand jury has indicted seven teens in the case: Jefferson, Muquan Cawthorne, Isaiah Gant, Gary Maye, Immanuel Swann, Greg Whittaker and Chavez Tyrek Myers. Two unidentified juveniles pled guilty in connection with the case in March.
According to Jefferson’s plea agreement, shortly after midnight on Nov. 17, he, Cawthorne, Gant, Maye, Myers, Swann, Whittaker and two juveniles had planned to commit robberies around the Gallery Place/Chinatown and Adams-Morgan neighborhoods.
Documents say Griffin approached Jefferson and his friends at a McDonald’s on 18th Street Northwest and asked if they had marijuana to sell. One in the group said “yes,” and Griffin briefly stepped into the restaurant. While Griffin was inside, Jefferson and the group discussed robbing him of his Helly Hansen jacket.
When Griffin came back outside, he, Maye, Jefferson and Cawthorne walked to Lanier Place Northwest. There the group robbed him at gun point.
Jefferson and friends then walked to the Woodley Park Metro station; Griffin and his friend Issac Chase arrived shortly after.
Documents say that as Chase approached the group, Cawthorne asked Jefferson if he should shoot him. Jefferson said “no,” and then Cawthorne, Maye, Smith, Swann and the two juveniles threw Chase to the ground and began punching, kicking and stomping him. Meanwhile, Gant, Jefferson, Myers and Whittaker moved toward Griffin to keep him from helping Chase.
Chase managed to get up and stumble toward the escalators, documents say, but the group jumped him again.
Plea documents say Jefferson, Maye, Myers, Swann, Whittaker and a juvenile then walked up to the mezzanine level where Griffin and Whittaker squared up in fighting positions. Documents say the men exchanged one punch each before a man in a black ski mask snuck up on Griffin and stabbed him once in the chest.
Court documents say Jefferson identified the masked man to police as Myers.
Cawthorne, Gant, Maye, Myers, Swann and Whittaker are due in court next week for a trial readiness hearing. They are scheduled to stand trial in September.
Jefferson’s plea agreement is below.
