Zachary Sims was found innocent today of the most serious charges against him, after a DC jury found that there was not sufficient evidence to believe that Sims killed 16-year-old Jamal Bell following a graduation party in June 2010.
The verdict was returned Monday, the fourth day of jury deliberations.
Sims, 19, had been charged with killing Bell and wounding two others when he fired a gun into a crowd of young people in front of him as they left a party on Georgia Avenue.
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Jurors charged with determining whether or not Zachary Sims is guilty of shooting 16-year-old Jamal Bell following a Go-Go party in Northwest DC will continue their deliberations Monday after failing to reach a verdict this week.
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It was supposed to be a celebratory night. And, until the gunshots rang out, it was.
At the Go-Go themed graduation party teens chatted, danced, and goofed off for photos with friends. A variety of neighborhood bands played in the church rec room rented for the event.
“Everybody was partying, having a good time,” a Roosevelt High School 10th grader remembered this week.
“It was noisy, like a party, there was dancing,” recalled another student.
But the party was shut down that June evening after a scuffle between two neighborhood groups broke out, and the “hyped” teens spilled out of the rec room and onto Georgia Avenue. Some started to make their way home, others lingered, chatting and drinking in a nearby McDonald’s parking lot.
Then shots rang out.
Sixteen-year-old Jamal Bell crumpled to the sidewalk.
Near him, two others lay wounded.
Today, nearly two years after that June 2010 graduation party, jurors were scheduled to begin deliberations in the case against Zachary Sims, the teen prosecutors say fired those gunshots on June 18, 2010.
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MPD Chief Cathy Lanier and US Attorney Ronald Machen are scheduled to address the media this afternoon regarding the verdict in the South Capitol murder case.
Homicide Watch will have more this afternoon.
Update: The Washington Post reports that four of the five men have been convicted of first-degree murder; the fifth was convicted of lesser charges.
Jurors in the South Capitol murder case are announcing their verdict this morning.
The announcement was still underway shortly after noon.
Look back on the key moments in the case with the roundup after the jump.
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Nathaniel Grey was sentenced today to 22 years in prison for the 2009 shooting death of Brandon Scott.
A press release from the US Attorney’s Office is after the jump.
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A 21-year-old DC man was arrested Tuesday in a three-year-old homicide case, MPD said in a press release.
According to the release, James Rico Wood is suspected of second degree murder while armed in connection with the 2009 shooting death of 22-year-old Richard Robinson.
The press release is after the jump.
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Since Saturday, five men have been killed in separate violent attacks in DC, bringing the homicide tally for the year to 30.
The two most recent homicide victims, who at this time have not been identified, were each stabbed early Tuesday morning. One was killed on Florida Avenue Northwest, the other on Quarles Street Northeast.
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Twenty-year-old Steffon Frazier pled guilty today to a charge of first-degree murder in connection with the 2008 shooting death of David Christopher Holmes.
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The first full day of jury deliberations on the South Capitol case is expected to begin today, after attorneys for both sides wrapped up their closing arguments late yesterday afternoon.
The jury will decide whether five men are guilty in the March 2010 fatal shootings of five people under age 20.
Prosecuting attorney Bruce Hegyi has urged the jury to focus on the testimony of Nathaniel Simms, who has admitted to participating in the shootings and agreed to testify in exchange for lesser charges of second-degree murder. Defense attorney Robert Acree told the jury to question Simms’s testimony, saying he lied on the witness stand.
Here is an updated look back at key moments in the case.
