The jury charged with determining the guilt and innocence of five D.C. men charged in a series of shootings known as the “South Capitol Street Massacre” heard opening statements today, the first day of presentations.
The defendants: Orlando Carter, 22; Sanquan, 21; Jeffrey D. Best, 23; Robert Bost, 23; and Lamar Williams, 23, are charged with participating in shootings that killed five young people and injured nine more.
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The Washington Post advances a story first reported by Homicide Watch DC in December: The 94 percent case closure rate frequently cited by Police Chief Cathy Lanier, Mayor Vincent Gray and others hides more complicated arithmetic.
The closure rate she presents for the District is 154 percent higher than Boston’s and at least 104 percent higher than Baltimore’s, and it gives residents reason to believe that D.C. police have been remarkably successful at solving homicide cases under her watch.
But an examination of District homicides found that the department’s closure rate is a statistical mishmash that makes things seem much better than they are. The District had 108 homicides last year, police records show. A 94 percent closure rate would mean that detectives solved 102 of them. But only 62 were solved as of year’s end, for a true closure rate of 57 percent, according to records reviewed by The Post.
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Lawrence Davis was sentenced this morning to 45 years in prison for the stabbing death of his wife, Elizabeth Singleton almost 13 years ago.
Davis says he is innocent and his attorney said Friday that Davis intends to appeal the court’s first-degree murder while armed conviction.
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A 20-year-old homicide case has been closed after two witnesses to the shooting death of Chet Hunter Matthews agreed to share details of the killing with police.
Matthews was 27-years-old when he was found fatally shot in Haines Point in May 1992.
On Monday Lamont Terry was presented with a charge of felony first-degree murder while armed in connection with the case.
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UPDATE 2:45 p.m.: The Washington Post reports that the death is believed to be a suicide.
A man found shot on the National Mall near the Lincoln Memorial Sunday morning has died of his injuries, and MPD is investigating the case, NBC Washington and WTOP report.
It’s not yet clear whether the case is considered a homicide.
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MPD recently released this photo of a towel the infant was found wrapped in.
The Metropolitan Police Department has received tips regarding a baby girl found abandoned on Jan. 15, but still has not identified the girl, Lt. Robert Alder said Friday.
She was found on a doorstep the night of Jan. 15 and died shortly after. The night she was found was freezing cold. She is a black infant, believed to be approximately one month old.
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From he US Attorney’s Office:
District Man Convicted of First-Degree Premeditated Murder While Armed For Killing Teenager During Robbery- Defendant Opened Fire After Going Through Victim’s Pockets -
WASHINGTON - Reginald Rogers, 20, of Washington, D.C., was convicted by a jury today of first-degree premeditated murder while armed, first-degree felony murder while armed, armed robbery, assault with a dangerous weapon and related charges stemming from a 2010 slaying in Southeast Washington, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced.
Rogers was convicted following a trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. He is to be sentenced March 16, 2012 by the Honorable Thomas J. Motley. Rogers faces a minimum of 30 years in prison for the crimes.
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From the US Attorney’s Office:
District Man Pleads Guilty to Murder In 2007 Slaying in Northeast Washington- Victim Was Slain Inside His Apartment -
WASHINGTON - Ronnell James, 39, of Washington, D.C., pled guilty today to a charge of second degree murder while armed, with aggravating circumstances, in a slaying that took place in 2007 in Northeast Washington, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced.
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We’ve touched on this before: Since the mid-1990s, violent crime across the United States has dropped dramatically. DC has gone from several hundred murders per year a decade ago to 108 last year.
And yet, experts struggle to explain the drop. Charles Murray, of the American Enterprise Institute, argues that the answer is actually simple: widespread policies of mass incarceration have taken thousands of criminals off the streets, which both removed violent people from neighborhoods and created a deterrent.
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Vasile Graure was convicted today of felony murder in connection with a 2007 fire in Northwest DC that ultimately killed Vladimir Djordjevic.
Graure was previously convicted of assault with intent to kill after a jury ruled that he had poured gasoline on Djordjevic and the Good Guys club and then lit the gasoline on fire. Djordjevic was seriously injured and died in 2010.
A press release from the US Attorney’s Office is after the jump.
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