Homicide Watch D.C.

In brief:

Curtis McKnight and Robert Pumphrey Jr. were found guilty in the 2007 northeast DC shooting death of the Raynard Jennings.

A review of this year’s reported homicides compared to last year’s showed fewer homicides (year-to-date) this year. The review also showed that this year’s victims have been younger. In 2011 the deadliest ages were 20 and 22; so far in 2012, the deadliest ages have been 19 and 21. Two children, Keyontae Osbia Moore, aged 20 months, and Kuron Rashad Hunt, who died after delivery, are also among this year’s victims. In 2011 the youngest homicide victim was 15 years old.

Later in the week, the death of an infant girl found abandoned on a doorstep in Northeast DC in January was ruled a homicide. The medical examiner said the cause of death was hypothermia.

Mark Pray and Alonzo Marlow were found guilty today of the killing of two people: Crystal Washington in April 2009 and Jheryl Hodge in January 2010. Washington was killed a day before she was scheduled to testify for the government in a murder case. Pray and Kenneth Benbow were also found guilty of the 2008 murder of Van Johnson Jr.

The preliminary hearing for Raymond Faunteroy was postponed at the request of his attorney; she said Faunteroy, suspected in the death of Derrick Ragland, wished to hire a private attorney.

The Office of Unified Communications faced tough questions from Councilman Phil Mendelson, chair of the committee on the judiciary, about a 911 call that came in more than five minutes before Angelo Jones was shot to death in Clay Terrace in 2010. Jennifer Greene, director of the OUC said the operator heard on the call has been retrained and that system upgrades should make problems like the one recorded on the call less common. But Mendelson remained concerned that the 911 system is not operating effectively.

Later in the week, the Washington Post, in an editorial, called on the City Council to conduct its own review of the District’s 911 system.

Brandon Andrews pled innocent in the shooting death of Leonard Bigelow. Andrews is charged with first-degree murder and threats as well as two counts of assault and three weapons charges.

Timothy Shade and Deshaun Johnson, accused of killing Bernard Lewis as he stumbled drunk and high down a Southeast DC street, were sentenced to four- and five-year prison terms after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter. The two men told the court that Lewis’ death was an accident.

In brief:

A mistrial was declared a mistrial in the case against Raymond Roseboro, after the jury notified the court for the third time that they were deadlocked. Roseboro, 21, was charged with first-degree murder while armed in the shooting death of 16-year-old Prince Okorie. A comment left by Anonguest said:

I believe Mr. Roseboro committed the crime and lied to the jury when he took the stand but I can understand why the jury did not convict. No impartial witness could identify Mr. Roseboro as the shooter. There was no physical evidence linking him to the crime. The bottom line was did the jury believe the two men who were allegedly with Mr. Roseboro and the victim.

James Fields, suspected in the shooting death of Christopher Freeman in Southeast DC on August 5, pled innocent to the charges against him.

Nineteen-year-old Kevin Bolden died after being shot by MPD officers responding to a call in Southeast DC for a drug complaint. MPD says Bolden brandished a gun at officers and fired before MPD fired at him.

A Temple Hills, Md. man has been arrested in connection with a 2005 shooting in Northeast DC, MPD said. James Presley Harris, 31, died in that shooting. Jamel Callis, 26, is suspected of first degree murder while armed, MPD said.

A 911 call made by a witness to Angelo Jones’ shooting death in Clay Terrace in Oct. 2010 raises questions about whether the shooting could have been prevented.

The recording, made public by Homicide Watch DC as part of our comprehensive coverage of Rickey Pharr’s trial, lasts eight minutes; in the first five minutes of the call a total of six locations or landmarks were given by the caller to the 911 operator, all within about a square mile of each other in Northeast DC. Then, as the operator continued to struggle to enter an address in for dispatch, the gunshots that killed Jones rang out.

Community leaders and some in law enforcement say that had the call been handled differently that the shooting could have been prevented.

DC Councilman Phil Mendelson, chairs the Committee on the Judiciary which oversees the city’s 911 system. has promised a review of the call.

Listen to the audio below.

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In brief:

A man stabbed to death at Library Bar and Grill near Catholic University was identified as 34-year-old James Barrington Johnson.

Curtis Patterson pled guilty to illegal possession of a firearm and obstruction of justice in connection with the shooting death of Angelo Jones. Patterson had been a co-defendant with Rickey Pharr, who was convicted of first-degree murder. The cases were severed just before Pharr’s trial began.

Raymond Roseburo, accused of killing 16-year-old Prince Okorie in Nov. 2010, took the stand in his own defense to proclaim his innocence. Deliberations in that case began Tuesday and have not yet finished. On Friday, the jury said it remained deadlocked. Judge Russell Canan instructed jurors to return Monday and continue working towards a verdict.

Meanwhile, the trial of Kwan Kearney and Jeremy Risper, accused in the shooting death of Jamal Wilson, went to the jury Thursday morning. By midday, jurors had returned guilty verdicts for Kearney and Risper on all counts. Sentencing for both men is scheduled for June 15.

Raymond Faunteroy was arrested in the Dec. 2011 shooting death of 19-year-old Derrick Ragland. Detectives in the case say Faunteroy tried to buy a gun from Ragland days before, but was robbed.

A second-degree murder charge against Aaron Adams was dismissed. Adams had been suspected in the stabbing death of Garrett Armand White.

A Grand Jury returned a 24-count indictment against Terry Jimenez, Deonte Bryant, and Terrance Bush, including charges of first-degree murder, assault with intent to kill, and aggravated assault. All three were allegedly involved in a shootout at last year’s Caribbean Festival that killed Robert Foster Jr, a bystander. The three co-defendants pleaded innocent on Friday.

An attack on a pregnant woman is being investigated as a homicide because the woman’s eight-month-old fetus died. The child, identified as Kuron Rashad Hunt, was born after his mother was stabbed in the abdomen. The mother survived but Hunt, delivered after the stabbing, died shortly after.

Shawn Davis was sentenced to 18 years in prison for the stabbing death of Tawanna Barnes-Copeland. Davis pled guilty to second-degree murder in November 2011, two months after being indicted on a charge of first-degree murder.

In brief:

Two trials began this week: Kwan Kearney and Jeremy Risper are suspected in the shooting death of Jamal Wilson in Nov. 2010. A witness testified that Wilson, Kearney and Risper had been friends, but the group had fallen out after Risper and Kearney’s brother Eric testified against another friend in 2009.

Kearney has already been convicted in a separate murder, that of Joseph Alonzo Sharps, Jr.

Raymond Roseburo is on trial for killing 16-year-old Prince Okorie on Nov. 30, 2010.
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Robert Wight was fatally stabbed last Sunday in Southeast DC; his neighbor, Ellsworth Colbert, is suspected of second-degree murder while armed in connection with the case. Prosecutors say an argument between the men began with a fight about a dog.

A DC toddler died early Monday morning of blunt force trauma; the DC Medical Examiner ruled Wednesday that the child was a victim of homicide. The child was identified as 20-month-old Keyontae Osbia Moore of Southeast DC, the youngest homicide victim of the year.

A grand jury charged Albrecht Muth with first degree murder in connection with the death of his wife, Viola Drath, at their Georgetown home last August. The charge is an upward departure from the second-degree murder charge Muth is being held on. Muth is expected in court this week for arraignment.

Karl Pugh pleaded innocent to a charge of second-degree murder while armed; prosecutors say he shot and killed Quentin Ragland in Southeast DC in September.

Stephen Barnes pleaded “guilty” today to one count of second-degree murder while armed in the Dec. 2011 shooting death of Stephon Way at a Northeast DC gas station. A 16-year-old girl was also injured in that shooting.

Judge Ronna Beck found probable cause in the case against Maurice Hawkins, suspected of killing 56-year-old Baltimore woman, Barbara Lloyd.

The South Capitol Street murder trial continued; find Homicide Watch’s links roundup of the case coverage here.

Interested in what’s happening this week at DC Superior Court? See Week Ahead.

In brief:

A double shooting in Southeast DC killed Ronald Bryant, a 21-year-old DC man.

Rickey Pharr was found guilty of first-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of Angelo Jones in Northeast DC in Oct. 2010. The case “huge embarrassment” Pharr’s defense attorney argued in closing statements. “Justice has been served,” Jones’ family said of the verdict.

An extensive AP story backgrounding Albrecht Muth and Viola Drath, said that the domestic murder case was “veering off course.”

Washington’s Other Monuments has photos of street memorials and crime scenes left in the wake of recent homicides.

The South Capitol Street murder trial continued. Find links to all coverage here.

India Rice, whose brother, Quintin T. Perry Jr., was killed Dec. 25 in Oxon Hill, wrote a guest post about Perry and his case. She urged anyone with information about Perry’s death to contact police.

Kevin Benbow‘s preliminary hearing was delayed for the seventh time. He was scheduled for a preliminary hearing Friday. The 17-year-old is suspected in the November 2010 shooting death of Jinnell McQueen.

Wayne Jackson was ordered held after a preliminary hearing Friday in the stabbing death of Kevin Blackwell Jr. He is one of three people facing charges in the case.

Weekend Read: Greater Greater Washington looks at how DC police are ramping up high-tech crime-fighting efforts.

Homicide Watch brings you a behind-the-scenes look at MPD’s 94 percent homicide case closure rate with a links roundup of how and where the story has been covered.

For details on cases scheduled to be heard at DC Superior Court this week, see Week Ahead.

In brief:

Charging documents in the case against Reginald Green state that his fight with Alfonza Flythe began in the cafeteria of a New York Avenue homeless shelter and that Flythe may have thrown a punch at Green. Green is accused of fatally stabbing Flythe during the fight.

The trial of five men charged in the South Capitol Street shooting that killed five young people and injured nine more began this week. Homicide Watch D.C. has a roundup of local coverage of the case.

The trial of Rickey Pharr, charged with fatally shooting Angelo Jones over a rumor that Jones was a police informant, was underway this week. The trial has been delayed several times by legal arguments. Witnesses in the case have told the court that they have been afraid to testify in the case; one woman said that after she testified to the grand jury, her mother told the neighborhood that she was a “snitch.”

Wayne A. Jackson, a 22-year-old Capitol Heights Md. man, was arrested on suspicion of felony murder in connection with the stabbing death of Kevin Blackwell Jr. He is the third suspect to be arrested in the case.

Katrell Henry, 37, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the shooting death of Laroy Bryant. He was convicted in November of voluntary manslaughter while armed in the case.

Francisco Orlando Rivas, a 19-year-old from Hyattsville, Md., was killed in a shooting in Northeast DC Thursday evening. A vigil was held at the scene of the shooting Friday night.

Fox5 reported on the case of a Maryland man who lost his job after MPD detectives told his boss that he was a suspect in the Heritage India murder case. The man has been cleared, but did not get his job back.

A grand jury investigation into Karl Pugh‘s role in the shooting death of Quentin Joavor Ragland is complete and a formal charge in the case is expected this week.

In brief:

Lamar Marquel Walker, a 21-year-old Southeast DC man, was killed in a shooting on Call Place SE early Tuesday morning.

Lewis Dixon was shot and killed in the 1300 block of Saratoga Avenue, NE at about 5 p.m. Wednesday night.

Alfonza Flythe, 35, was fatally stabbed Friday morning on New York Avenue NE; 25-year-old Reginald Edward Green, 25, was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder while armed in connection with the case.

Brandon Terry was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder while armed in connection with the shooting death Jhonte Coleman, which took place following an event at Heritage India in Dupont Circle.

Documents charging Gary Montgomery with fatally stabbing JaParker Deoni Jones leave open the possibility that Jones could have been the subject of a robbery attempt and outline the way people in the community helped MPD close the case.

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.

Terrance McNeal pleaded innocent to a charge of first-degree murder while armed in the stabbing death of Charles Hicks.

Marvin Palencia pleaded innocent to fatally shooting Jacobo Vazquez, his former co-worker who had been romantically involved with Palencia’s wife.

Lawrence Davis was sentenced to 45 years in prison for the stabbing death of his wife, Elizabeth Singleton almost 13 years ago.

Tarkeyshia Brown waived her right to a preliminary hearing in order to gain more time to consider a plea offer made by the government. She is suspected of first-degree murder while armed in the October 2011 stabbing death of Jawan Parker.

Judge Thomas Motley imposed the maximum penalties possible under sentencing guidelines on Kevin Clark and Donald Crosland, both of whom pleaded guilty to killing teen Ricardo Minger in a Southeast DC apartment in January 2011.

A vigil Tuesday for JaParker Deoni Jones drew more than 200 people; later in the week MPD announced that 55-year-old Gary Niles Montgomery was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder while armed in connection with Jones’ death.

Judge Russell Canan ruled that Albrecht Muth is currently mentally and physically incapable of representing himself against charges involving the death of 91-year-old Georgetown socialite Viola Herms Drath. Muth is on a hunger strike and was hospitalized during the week.

Court documents showed that Terrell Brent, a 20-year-old DC man accused of fatally shooting a close friend in a game of Russian Roulette, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in connection with the case.

Kwan Kearney was sentenced to 60 years in prison for a double shooting, which killed teen Joseph Alonzo Sharps Jr. and wounded one other teen. Kearney was convicted of the first-degree murder charge in December.

In brief:

Albrecht Muth, suspected of killing his wife, 91-year-old Viola Drath, is on a hunger strike and has been hospitalized.

According to court documents, a juvenile murder suspect has told the government that he, not Rashid Caviness-Bey, shot and killed 19-year-old Osman Al-Akbar near Meridian Hill Park in August.

A mental health report on Robert Carter, charged with first degree murder in the shooting death of his daughter, Angel Morse, includes Carter’s own accounting for what happened the afternoon Morse was killed. He has pleaded innocent.

Court documents outline the legal reasons Brian Gaither, suspected in the death of Latisha Frazier, would like to sever his case from his codefendant’s case.

Reginald Rogers was found guilty of first-degree premeditated murder while armed, first-degree felony murder while armed, and other charges in connection with a deadly Jan. 2010 robbery. Calvin Woodland, Jr., the son of the late community activist Calvin Woodland, Sr., was killed in the robbery.

Deoni Japarker Jones, a transgender woman, was fatally stabbed at a bus stop in Northeast DC. A video of a suspect has been released, but no arrests have been announced.

MPD has received tips regarding a baby girl found abandoned on Jan. 15, but still has not identified the girl, Lt. Robert Alder said Friday. Earlier in the week police released a photo of the towel the girl was found wrapped in.