A press release from MPD has been added to the bottom of this post.
A shooting near the closed Ferebee-Hope Elementary School campus killed 20-year-old Vincent Purvis on Wednesday afternoon, according to multiple reports.
Purvis was found suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, NBC washington reported. Read more
Jurors began deliberating Wednesday in the high-profile case charging Georgetown man Albrecht Muth with the murder of his wife, socialite and journalist Viola Drath.
Closing arguments were heard in the case Wednesday and both prosecution and defense attorneys asked jurors to consider Muth’s character as well as the nature of his twenty-year marriage with Drath. But what his character was, and what that marriage was, they disagreed on.
“Muth was a manipulator,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Bach said. “He was a fraud.”
Countered defense attorney Dana Page, “A story of premeditation, a story of heinousness, a story drawing things out. But let’s be clear, none of it has anything to do with who did it.”
Read more
MPD has announced an arrest in the 1999 shooting death of 18-year-old Kelvin Howard. Police say 35-year-old Anthony Gray of Southeast DC was arrested Tuesday. He is the second arrest in the case, police say.
A press release is after the jump.
Read more
Both government and defense teams in the Albrecht Muth trial called their final witnesses Tuesday, wrapping up testimony in a trial that has lasted seven days but that took two and a half years to happen.
Closing arguments from both sides are expected Wednesday morning at 10 a.m.
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Prosecutors in the case against Albrecht Muth have argued during trial that Muth married Viola Herms Drath, his wife of 23 years, for financial gain.
Muth, 49, then murdered the 91-year-old Drath in her Georgetown home to accumulate more wealth from a forged inheritance document, prosecutors say.
“We had a marriage of convenience,” Muth said to police after Drath’s death. “We got along contentiously.”
Read more
Police have identified the man who was shot and killed early Sunday afternoon as 18-year-old Deangelo Gatling.
Gatling was found Sunday at around 2:00 p.m. suffering from a gunshot wound on the 2300 block of 24th Street Southeast. Gatling was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.
No suspects have been arrested in the case.
A press release from MPD is after the jump.
Read more
The Washington Post this weekend writes about a DC practice which allows families to purchase post-autopsy photos of their deceased.
It’s unusual, but not unheard of, for medical examiners to provide families with photos of departed kin, although most often it’s done only after the autopsy, the police investigation and court proceedings are complete. Practices differ across the country: As a rule, Maryland does not release photos to relatives or to anyone else; Virginia does, free, under tightly controlled circumstances.
Read more
In brief:
There were no murders in DC this week.
Judge Lynn Leibovitz found probable cause in the case charging Paul Jefferies with the death of 24-year-old Awele Olisemeka, who died after being hit in the head with a brick. Jefferies, 20, is scheduled for a felony status conference on March 10.
Albrecht Muth‘s murder trial began. He is charged with the death of his 91-year-old wife, Viola Herms Drath. Drath was found on August 12, 2011 beaten and strangled in her Georgetown home. Muth, 49, who has endured a year long self-induced fast is not present at trial and is viewing proceedings from his hospital room through a video link. The trial is scheduled to continue on Monday.
Alphonso Cleveland was ordered held in connection with the stabbing death of his 51-year-old wife, Claudia Hall. Cleveland, 52, is charged with second-degree murder while armed in Hall’s death. The case is scheduled for a preliminary hearing January 21.
Rashad Slye pleaded guilty to second-degree murder while armed in connection with the 2011 shooting death of 40-year-old cab driver, Domingo Ezirike. Slye, 23, is scheduled for sentencing on April 4.
Howard Randolph was released to a halfway house after Judge Canan did not find substantial probability that he killed 21-year-old Rayshawn Hailstock. Randolph, 25, is scheduled for a status hearing on February 17.
Judge Jennifer Anderson found probable cause that James Cornelius Robinson shot and killed 30-year-old Jason Alexander Murphy in August 2013. Robinson, 19, is scheduled for a felony status conference on March 19.
Marvin Moore seeks to withdraw his plea to charges in connection with the 2013 death of 58-year-old Timothy Benjamin. Moore, 36, initially pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in October, but wrote a letter to Judge Canan asking to withdraw the plea. The case is scheduled for sentencing on January 31, pending a motion to withdraw the plea.
Each week, Homicide Watch brings you a list of upcoming hearings in the cases we follow. All hearings are scheduled for 9:30 a.m. unless otherwise noted. To add an item to the listing, email homicidewatchdc [at] gmail.com. To see scheduled court hearings beyond next week, see our calendar.
