Homicide Watch D.C.

Anthony Anderson was sentenced today to three and a half years in prison after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the death of 48-year-old Tyrone Smith last June in Petworth.
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From the US Attorney’s Office:

Jury Convicts Gang Members of Murder in April 2008 Rush Hour Murder

WASHINGTON - United States Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced today that Deandre Rogers, 20, of the 300 block of S Street, Northeast, and Deon T. Jenkins, 26, of the 1100 block of K Street, Southeast, were convicted today of First Degree Murder While Armed for the April 14, 2008, murder of William Foster at the intersection of North Capitol and R Streets, Northeast, Washington, D.C. Foster was murdered as he sat in his van trapped in rush hour traffic. Foster’s murder resulted in a spate of gang shootings in Northeast D.C. in the Spring of 2008 between two rival crews, the T Street/Yellow Brick Road Crew and the Todd Place Crew.
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In brief:

MPD is preparing to launch a website seeking the killer of 28-year-old Georgetown resident Christine Mirzayan, who was attacked and killed in 1998.

A vigil was held for 23-year-old transgendered woman Myles LaShay McLean, who was killed earlier this month in Northeast DC.

Oma Crawford pleaded guilty to fatally shooting 36-year-old Ralph Thomas outside McKinley Tech High School in June.

Rodney McIntyre pleaded guilty to premeditated first-degree murder while armed in the death of his 17-year-old daughter, Ebony Franklin.

Cinthya Proctor pleaded guilty to participating in the killing of Latisha Frazier last August. Proctor could be sentenced to life in prison for second-degree murder, kidnapping and conspiracy to tamper with evidence in the case.

Nathaniel Phillips was sentenced to just over 11 years in prison for the stabbing death of Theresa Hungerford in June 2010.

Phillip Swan and Terell Wilson were ordered held in the murder of 71-year-old Glenn Scarborough in his home last month. Defense attorneys for the men questioned the validity of their confessions, arguing that there was evidence that they could have been coerced.

Rend Smith’s profile of Cathy Lanier in Washington City Paper this week has prompted an intense online conversation about the Chief’s popularity— and effectiveness— in DC.

Smith looks at Lanier’s approval rating (“cosmic 84 percent”), muses on the possibility that she could run for mayor (“she’s a Ward 5 resident whose blue-collar affectations play best in the parts of town where her original patron, Fenty, got his butt kicked”), reports a little on her background (after becoming a teen mom she got her GED and tried waitressing and sales before a boyfriend encouraged her to apply to MPD), and looks into Lanier’s policing style (” stop viewing crime stats in isolation, instead factoring in details like “population density, demographic trends, projected economic development, physical infrastructure” to create a broader picture.”).

Read the City Paper story (and comments thread) here.

Nathaniel Phillips was sentenced today to just over 11 years in prison for the stabbing death of Theresa Hungerford in June 2010.

A press release from the US Attorney’s Office is below.

District Man Sentenced to More Than 11 Years in Prison In Slaying That Followed a Dispute Over Drugs - Defendant Repeatedly Stabbed His Friend in Argument at Her Apartment -

WASHINGTON - Nathaniel Phillips, 37, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to a prison term of 11 years and three months for stabbing and killing a friend inside her apartment in Northeast Washington, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced.

Phillips pled guilty in April 2011 to voluntary manslaughter while armed. He was sentenced in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia by the Honorable Gerald I. Fisher.
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Thanks to Homicide Watch reader “Just_ME” who pointed out this headline progression from The Examiner.

What a difference a year makes.

June 2010 report from The Examiner on heat and crime correlation

July 2011 report from The Examiner on heat and crime correlation

Note: I originally missed that the first story is June 2010, assuming that they were less than a month apart. My mistake. The first story is June 2010, the second is July 2011. My apologies.

The Washington Examiner reports this morning on a criminologist’s connection between extremely hot weather and a decrease in homicides, tying the connection to a decrease in homicides this summer in the District.

Reports The Examiner:

During the record-breaking heat wave last weekend, there were no homicides in D.C. or Prince George’s County, the two jurisdictions that drive the capital region’s homicide rate. The last murder in the District was July 20. Prince George’s hasn’t had a homicide since July 13, a police department spokesman said.

“People say,’it’s too hot to kill, or I don’t have the energy to kill,” said Ellen G. Cohn, a professor at Florida International University who has examined connections between weather and crime for nearly 30 years. “It becomes more important to find a drink than exact revenge.”

MPD Chief Cathy Lanier told The Examiner that that wasn’t exactly true. She said it’s good policing that has made the decline possible.

“This is a sign of our success,” she said.

Interested in looking at how this year’s homicides stack up? Take a look at our spreadsheet, embedded below after the jump, and learn more about each crime by following the links to victim’s and suspect’s pages in the middle bar.
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DC Police are preparing to launch a website dedicated to finding the man who killed 28-year-old Georgetown resident Christine Mirzayan in 1998, the Washington Post reports.

Authorities recently announced that DNA evidence links Mirzayan’s slaying to eight sexual assaults in Montgomery County from 1991 to 1998. In coming weeks, D.C. police said, they will launch a Web site dedicated to the case in the hope that it will bring in new tips.

“There are only a few options: One, he’s dead. Two, he’s incarcerated on something they don’t take DNA for,” said Capt. Michael Farish of the D.C. police’s homicide unit. “I don’t foresee someone committing a progressively violent string of attacks and saying, ‘I’ll never do this again.’ ”

Read more about the case on the Washington Post.

From the US Attorney’s office:

Father Pleads Guilty to Involuntary Manslaughter In Death of His Seven-Week-Old Son - Defendant Gave Misleading Information to Medical Personnel -

WASHINGTON - Hiawatha Henry, 19, of Washington, D.C., pled guilty today to one count of involuntary manslaughter in the death of his infant son, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced.

Henry pled guilty in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. The Honorable Gerald I. Fisher scheduled sentencing for September 23, 2011. Henry faces a maximum statutory sentence of 30 years in prison.
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From the US Attorney’s Office:

Member of Violent Drug Ring Sentenced to 45 Years in Prison For Slaying of Man He Mistakenly Viewed as a Witness- More Than 30 Shots Fired at Victim - - Three Others Were Sentenced Earlier in the Case -

WASHINGTON - Michael Walters, 31, was sentenced today to 45 years in prison for his role in a violent drug conspiracy and his actions as a triggerman in the killing of a man he and others mistakenly thought was a witness, announced U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. and Cathy L. Lanier, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

Walters, of Washington, D.C., was among four defendants convicted by a jury in March 2011 of conspiracy, first degree murder while armed with aggravating circumstances, obstruction of justice, and related firearms offenses. The verdict followed a month-long trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Walters was sentenced by the Honorable Thomas J. Motley.
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