Immanuel Swann pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter while armed, and two counts of armed robbery Thursday in connection with the stabbing death of 18-year-old Olijawon Emmanuel Griffin. Prosecutors dropped initial charges of felony murder, conspiracy and assault.
Swann is the sixth person to plead guilty in this case, and the second this week. A trial is expected to begin Monday for the three remaining co-defendants.
Police found Griffin on November 17, 2012 around 1:20 am inside the Woodley Park Metro Station suffering from a stab wound. He was transported to a local hospital where he later died.
Prosecutors claim Griffin was the victim of a robbery, and was murdered while attempting to retrieve his belongings from the young men who allegedly robbed him.
Nine suspects were arrested and held in connection with Griffin’s death, which included Swann and codefendants Muquan Cawthorne, Deon Jefferson, Isaiah Gant, Gary Maye, Greg Whittaker and Chavez Tyrek Myers.
In March, two unidentified juveniles pleaded guilty in the case, and within the last two months Jefferson, Maye and Cawthorne have pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter while armed, armed robbery and related weapons offenses. Swann is the sixth suspect to plead guilty.
According to Swann’s plea agreement, shortly after midnight on the day Griffin was murdered, he, Jefferson, Gant, Maye, Myers, Cawthorne, Whittaker and two juveniles had planned to commit robberies around the Gallery Place/Chinatown and Adams-Morgan neighborhoods.
Documents state Swann and his group of friends robbed Griffin of his Helly Hansen jacket after Griffin approached them to buy marijuana. After the robbery, the group walked to the Woodley Park Metro station. Griffin and his friend, Issac Chase, followed the group to get his jacket back, documents state.
When Chase approached the group, Swann, Cawthorne, Maye, Smith and the two juveniles threw Chase to the ground, beat him, then robbed him of his wallet.
Plea documents state Swann, Jefferson, Maye, Myers, Whittaker and a juvenile then walked up to the mezzanine level where Griffin and Whittaker began to fight. Documents state the men exchanged one punch each before Meyers, who wore a black ski mask, snuck up on Griffin and stabbed him once in the chest.
Swann then shouted out “Bitch, we don’t play!… Say word!” which Swann described in court Thursday to be a term he used among his friends to “gloat for what we just did.”
Myers, Gant and Whittaker are scheduled to stand trial on September 23. Swann is scheduled to be sentenced on December 13.
Plea documents have been added to this post.
