Brandon M. Andrews | Homicide Watch DC

Brandon Andrews Sentenced to 39 and a Half Years for Death of Leonard Bigelow

Megan Arellano — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:18:16 -0400

Judge Robert Morin sentenced Brandon Andrews Friday to 39 and a half years in prison for the August 2011 shooting death of 43-year-old Leonard Bigelow.

A jury found Andrews, 31, guilty of second-degree murder in connection with the case in February.

In court Friday Andrews apologized for his actions: "[I'm] really sorry," he said.

At trial, Andrews testified that he was angry at Bigelow's sister after she ended their ten-month long relationship and refused to speak with him. After sending a series of threatening text messages to the sister, Andrews called the Bigelow's home and spoke with Leonard Bigelow. During that conversation, Bigelow told Andrews that his sister had no interest in speaking to him.

Andrews then went to the Bigelow's home and shot Leonard Bigelow on the house porch, killing him. Andrews later said Bigelow possessed a knife, so he shot him.

Bigelow's sister, Katina Bigelow, addressed the court Friday and said that the trial has negatively impacted her family's health.

"Our family would be happy if Mr. Andrews would never see the light of day again," Katina Bigelow said. "He took a very important person out of our lives."

A press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office is below.

District Man Sentenced to 39 ½-Year Prison Term In 2011 Slaying in Northeast Washington
Defendant Came to Ex-Girlfriend’s House With Gun, Killed Her Brother and Shot at Her Father

WASHINGTON – Brandon Andrews, 31, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 39 ½ years of incarceration on charges stemming from the killing of a man in Northeast Washington, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced.

Andrews was found guilty in February 2013 by a jury in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia of second-degree murder in the slaying of his ex-girlfriend’s brother, Leonard Bigelow, 43. The jury also found him guilty of a charge of assault with a deadly weapon for shooting at Mr. Bigelow’s father; threats to injure, for threatening his ex-girlfriend, and related weapons offenses. He was sentenced by the Honorable Robert E. Morin.

According to the government’s evidence, Andrews and Mr. Bigelow’s sister dated for approximately 10 months. However, on Aug. 22, 2011, she ended the relationship after Andrews threatened her while they were driving through the District of Columbia.

After the break-up, Andrews repeatedly tried to call and sent text messages to his ex-girlfriend, but she did not respond. Many of the defendant’s text messages included profanity, threats and demands that she answer him. Andrews also went by the Bigelow family home repeatedly, though he was uninvited and unwelcome.

On Aug. 23, 2011, for example, Mr. Bigelow was with his sister at their home when Andrews came by. Andrews and Mr. Bigelow argued when Mr. Bigelow informed Andrews that he was unwelcome and that his sister did not want to talk to him. Andrews’s ex-girlfriend became so concerned about his behavior that she sought a protective order from the Court the following day to keep Andrews away from her and her family.

On Aug. 25, 2011, Andrews demanded his clothing via text messages. The following day, the ex-girlfriend dropped off the clothes on a street corner near a homeless center in the 400 block of Second Street NW, where Andrews stood and resided. She did not give them to Andrews directly because she feared him. Later that day, Andrews sent text messages claiming that the clothes were taken by others before he could retrieve them. He also used profanity and threatened her property and her safety.

On the evening of Aug. 26, 2011, Andrews called and texted his ex-girlfriend multiple times, but she did not respond. Then, Andrews called her home. Mr. Bigelow answered the phone and told Andrews that his sister did not want to see him or speak to him. Andrews declared that he was coming to the home at approximately 10 p.m. Mr. Bigelow said that he would be there.

Andrews arrived about 10:45 p.m. with a loaded semi-automatic pistol in his pocket. He emerged from an alley and into the 1300 block of Emerald Street NE, and walked toward the house. Mr. Bigelow, his sister, and his father saw Andrews coming. Mr. Bigelow went onto the front porch with his father, while his sister called 911. Andrews stopped in front of the house and, without a word, shot at Mr. Bigelow and his father twice. He struck Mr. Bigelow with a bullet in the chest. Andrews then walked back the way he came. Mr. Bigelow collapsed and died that night from the gunshot wound.

On Aug. 27, 2011, law enforcement located Andrews at the corner of Fifth and F Streets NW. When he was arrested, he told the police that he had a gun in his pocket. The police found in his pocket the loaded.25 caliber semi-automatic pistol used to kill Mr. Bigelow.

At trial, Andrews claimed self-defense and alleged, among other claims, that at the time of the shooting Mr. Bigelow charged at him with some type of weapon in his hand. The government strongly disputed Andrews’ claim. According to the government’s evidence, Mr. Bigelow did not have a weapon and did not approach Andrews.

In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Machen commended the work of the detectives and officers of the Criminal Investigations Division and the First District of the Metropolitan Police Department, and the FBI Fugitive Task Force. He also expressed appreciation to those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Snyder, who secured the indictment in the case, Criminal Investigator John Marsh, Victim Witness Advocate Marcia Rinker, Victim Witness Specialist Katina Adams-Washington, Leif Hickling of the Litigation Technology Unit, and Paralegal Specialist Marian Russell. Finally, he praised the efforts of Assistant U.S. Attorney Shana L. Fulton who tried the case.

Brandon Andrews Guilty of Second-Degree Murder in Leonard Bigelow's Death

Vanya Mehta — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 14:58:43 -0500

A jury found Brandon Andrews guilty of second-degree murder Monday after deliberating for just three hours.

Andrews was convicted of fatally shooting Leonard Bigelow in Aug. 2011. Jurors also found him guilty of several related weapons and threats charges, including carrying a pistol without a license.

Andrews testified Thursday that he was angry with Bigelow's sister for refusing to speak with him after their 10-month relationship had ended. He said he was homeless and broke at the time of the shooting.

Andrews went to Bigelow's girlfriend's house the day of the shooting and saw Bigelow on the porch with his father holding an object. Andrews claimed he believed the object was a knife and shot Bigelow to defend himself.

Bigelow's father claimed at court that the knives found on the porch were for cleaning fish.

Jurors cleared Andrews of the more serious charge of first-degree murder, and of assault with intent to kill. The jury also found that he didn't threaten to kidnap or injure Bigelow's sister, Katherine, as prosecutors had claimed.

Judge Robert Morin is scheduled to sentence Andrews April 26 at 9:30 a.m.

"I didn't have to know at the time; it was enough for me to fire the gun,” Andrews says about Killing Leonard Bigelow

Penny Ray — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 20:29:50 -0500

Brandon Andrews testified Thursday that when he fatally shot Leonard Bigelow in August 2011 he didn't know whether Bigelow was wielding a knife or holding a pair of keys.

“I didn't have to know at the time,” Andrews said. “It was enough for me to fire the gun.”

Andrews is charged with first-degree murder while armed and several threat and firearm charges in connection with Bigelow's death.

At trial, Andrews testified that on the days leading up to Aug. 26, 2011, he had been angry with Bigelow's sister because she refused to speak with him after she ended their 10-month long relationship.

Andrews said that the relationship between he and the sister was “pretty good.” The pair would go out to eat, see movies, and take the woman's daughter to the park, all on her dime.

Andrews was broke and homeless, he testified.

Andrews said that they would occasionally argue about his inability to find work, but their arguments never became physical.

On Aug. 22, 2011, the couple fought while in a car; the woman's daughter was in the vehicle, Andrews said. His girlfriend didn't like the threats that he had made, she said. She pulled the vehicle over and asked police to remove Andrews from the car. Andrews then walked from that place, near The White House, to the woman's home in the 1300 block of Emerald Street Northeast.

Andrews testified that he was upset that he had to walk home, so he sent her threatening text messages.

“I sent them to get a rise out of her,” Andrews told the court.

When Andrews arrived at the woman's house, she was in the yard, but she ignored him, he said. So he decided to send her another threatening message.

“Your windshield won't make it,” the text said.

Andrews said he then decided to sleep nearby on his aunt's porch. Andrews testified that he slept outside because he wanted to catch his ex-girlfriend first thing in the morning as she left to take her daughter to school. His plan was to apologize to her, he said.

Andrews told the court that when he approached her outside her home the next morning, her brother, Bigelow, pulled out a knife and threatened to kill him. Andrews said that he told Bigelow that “there was no need for weapons,” and to “fight him like a man.” But since Bigelow wouldn't put down the knife, Andrews turned and walked away.

Over the course of that day Andrews said that he continued to send the woman threatening text messages; some of the messages were read in court Thursday.

“You're making this harder than it has to be,” one message said.

Another said, “You're still ignoring me?”

For two days Andrews continued to send text messages. Finally, the woman responded and told him that the relationship was over and that she wanted him to stop calling and texting her.

Andrews sent her another message: “If you want me to stop, answer my call,” the message said.

And then on the 25th, Andrews sent yet another message: “How do you think you can ignore me?”

On Aug. 26, the day Bigelow was murdered, the woman decided to return Andrews' belongings, which were in a bag in the back of her vehicle. Andrews testified that she dropped his bag full of clothes at a bus stop near the homeless shelter where she knew he was staying. Andrews said that within seconds people had gone through the bags and took all his belongings.

He then sent her another text message: “I swear to God, I will f— your car up,” the message said.

Two minutes later he sent another message: “You done f— up now, you stupid b—.”

And the messages kept coming:

“That's your a—!”

“I can't wait till you get home.”

And, “You owe me!”

Andrews testified that he was simply trying to get her attention so that she would pay for his clothes. He said that she finally responded to his texts and apologized for her actions. But Andrews continued to send her messages.

“You're making things worse every time you don't answer,” one message said.

And finally, the last text he sent that evening said, “I'm coming to the house.”

Andrews told the jury that he called the woman's house and spoke with Bigelow, telling him that he would be at the house by 10 p.m. He had hoped that Bigelow would decide to go to his girlfriend's house, Andrews testified, so he didn't arrive to the house until after 10:30.

Andrews said that as he approached the woman's house, the only people on the porch were Bigelow and his father; no one said a word to each other.

“I saw an object in Leonard's hands, and I didn't know what it was,” Andrews told the court.

So he fired two shots.

Bigelow's father testified that as he sat on the porch that evening he saw Andrews casually walking up the street; Andrews had come from behind an alley, he said. His daughter, Andrew's ex-girlfriend, was in the house.

Bigelow stepped out onto the porch when Andrews reached within a few feet of their yard fence. The father said that Andrews raised his arm and had a white towel or handkerchief draped over his hand.

He then heard a “bang, bang.”

The father told the jury that no one said a single word, and that Andrews simply turned and casually walked away in the direction from which he came.

The father testified that the two knives that were recovered by police from the front porch were knives he used to clean fish. Those knives, he said, had been on the porch for more than ten months. The father said that Bigelow never picked up either of them that evening.

Closing arguments are expected Friday morning in Judge Robert Morin's courtroom. Jury deliberations will begin immediately after.

Opening Statements Heard in Murder Trial Against Brandon Andrews

Penny Ray — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 18:26:32 -0500

Jurors heard opening statements Wednesday afternoon in the murder trial against Brandon Andrews.

Andrews, 30, is charged with first-degree premeditated murder while armed, assault with intent to kill, and several threat and firearm charges in connection with the Aug. 2011 shooting death of 43-year-old Leonard Alphonso Bigelow.

Prosecutors believe Andrews was upset that Bigelow's sister had ended their ten-month long relationship, and that the sister's unwillingness to speak to Andrews pushed him over the edge. Andrews' defense attorney argued Andrews was defending himself against a knife-wielding Bigelow.

“[Andrews] demanded the attention he couldn't get from her, so he shot the person she loved more than him,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Shana Fulton told jurors.

During opening statements, Fulton told the court that the sister decided to end her relationship with Andrews on Aug. 22, 2011, after Andrews threatened to kill her.

Fulton said the argument between the couple began during a car ride home. The sister felt that Andrews' threatening comments were inappropriate with her daughter in the car, so she pulled the vehicle over and asked nearby police to remove Andrews from the car. Later that night, Fulton said, Andrews sent the woman text messages in which he threatened to kill her.

Over the next four days, Andrews continued to send the sister threatening text messages, which Fulton said she repeatedly ignored.

But Andrews told her that he wanted his clothes back, so the sister decided to return his belongings in the safest way she knew: she dropped his clothes on a street corner near a D.C. shelter where she knew Andrews to be staying. This, Fulton told the jury, made Andrews furious.

“He cursed her out and he threatened her,” Fulton said.

According to Fulton, on the night of Aug. 26, 2011, Andrews decided to call the sister's house. Home with her was her daughter, her father, and her brother, Leonard Bigelow. Bigelow answered the phone and told Andrews that his sister did not want to see Andrews, but Andrews insisted that he was going to stop by their house at 10 p.m.

Fulton told the jury that Andrews didn't show up at the house until 10:43 p.m. As they saw him approaching, Bigelow and his sister went outside, but his sister turned around to go call police. In the seconds that it took for the call to be picked up by police, Andrews fired a single shot into Bigelow's chest. Andrews also shot the sister's father, Fulton said.

Two .25 caliber shell casings were found in front of the Bigelow's home; the gun used to fire the bullets was found in Andrews' pocket when he was arrested the next day, according to Fulton.

But Andrews' defense attorney, Tejal Kothari, argued that Bigelow was the aggressor.

“Mr. Andrews was confronted and forced to make a split second decision,” Kothari said during opening arguments.

Kothari told the court that after the phone conversation with Andrews, Bigelow was “looking to fight.”

Kothari said that when Bigelow saw Andrews approaching the house he rushed outside and charged at him armed with a knife.

On the porch steps, just a few feet from Bigelow's body, police recovered two knives: an open switchblade and a nine-inch kitchen knife Kothari said.

“Those knives were out there that night to be used on Mr. Andrews,” Kothari told the jury. “Mr. Andrews acted that night simply to protect himself.”

The trial is scheduled to resume in Judge Robert Morin's courtroom Thursday.

Brandon Andrews Pleads Innocent in Death of Leonard Bigelow

Laura Amico — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 12:50:59 -0400

Brandon Andrews pled innocent this morning 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.

Bigelow, 43, was killed outside his Northeast DC home in August.

According to charging documents in the case, Bigelow’s sister had broken up with Andrews days before the shooting after he threatened to kill her. Andrews texted her on Friday about retrieving items he had left at her house. She took the items elsewhere for him to pick up, which made him angry, she told authorities, adding that she received angry calls and text messages from him throughout the day Friday.

According to charging documents, Bigelow's sister called 911 when Andrews showed up at Bigelow’s home. Bigelow went outside, she said, and while she was on the phone with 911, she saw Andrews shoot Bigelow with a handgun, she told detectives, according to court documents.

At a preliminary hearing in October 2011, Andrews’ attorney, Lauren Bernstein, argued that Andrews may have felt threatened by Bigelow and that a “very large kitchen knife” was found on the Bigelow’s porch.

Read the indictment below.

Brandon Andrews Held in Death of Leonard Bigelow

Laura Amico — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 19:14:53 -0400

Note: this post has been updated.
Brandon Andrews was ordered held today after Judge William Jackson found probable cause for the second-degree murder charge in the case.

Andrews, 29, is suspected in the shooting death of Leonard Bigelow. Bigelow was killed outside his Northeast DC home in August.

Andrews' attorney, Lauren Bernstein, argued Friday that Andrews may have felt threatened by Bigelow and that a "very large kitchen knife" was found on the Bigelow's porch.

MPD Det. Milton Norris had testified that a witness said the knife was kept outside, for the purposes of general protection.

According to charging documents in the case, Bigelow's sister had broken up with Andrews days before the shooting after he threatened to kill her. Andrews texted her on Friday about retrieving items he had left at her house. She took the items elsewhere for him to pick up, which made him angry, she told authorities, adding that she received angry calls and text messages from him throughout the day Friday.

Norris testified Friday that witnesses said Andrews called Bigelow's sister before he arrived at the house the night of the shooting and he spoke with Bigelow on the phone.

Bigelow was heard saying "If you come over, I'll be waiting out front." Norris said he did not ask what the tone of the conversation was.

A status conference date was set for Nov. 16.

Brandon Andrews Held in Fatal Friday Night Shooting

Laura Amico — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 18:40:58 -0400

Brandon Andrews was ordered held today on suspicion of second-degree murder while armed in connection with the shooting death of Leonard Bigelow in Northeast DC Friday evening.

Neighbors said Andrews is Bigelow's sister's ex-boyfriend.

Charging documents in the case state that she told police that she had broken up with Andrews last Monday after he threatened to kill her. Andrews texted her on Friday about retrieving items he had left at her house. She took the items elsewhere for him to pick up, which made him angry, she told authorities, adding that she received angry calls and text messages from him throughout the day Friday.

According to charging documents, she called 911 when Andrews showed up at Bigelow's home Friday night. Bigelow went outside, she said, and while she was on the phone with 911, she saw Andrews shoot Bigelow with a handgun, she told detectives, according to court documents.

Andrews' attorney, Lauren Bernstein, on Monday questioned why Bigelow "confronted" Andrews instead of staying inside and calling 911.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Oct. 7 with Judge William Jackson.

Brandon Andrews Arrested in Shooting Death of Leonard Bigelow

Laura Amico — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 20:34:03 -0400

Brandon M. Andrews, a 29-year-old Northwest DC man, was arrested Saturday afternoon in connection with the late Friday night shooting death of Leonard Bigelow in Northeast D.C.

Authorities said Bigelow, 43, was killed in a domestic fight.

MPD's press release is after the jump.

August 27, 2011

Arrest Made in the Homicide in the 1300 block of Emerald Street, NE

(Washington, DC)-Detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department’s Homicide have announced an arrest has been made in the homicide that occurred in the 1300 block of Emerald Street, NE.

On Friday, August 26, 2011, at approximately 10:43 p.m., units from the First District were dispatched to the 1300 block of Emerald Street, NE, to investigate the report of a shooting. Upon their arrival, they located an adult male who was unconscious, unresponsive and suffering from an apparent gunshot wound.

Personnel from DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services transported the victim to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead at 11:24 p.m. His remains have been transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner pending an autopsy.

The decedent has been identified as 43-year-old Leonard Bigelow of Northeast, DC.

On Saturday, August 27, 2011 at approximately 2:26pm, members from the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force arrested 29-year-old Brandon M. Andrews of Northwest, Washington, D.C. pursuant to a DC Superior Court arrest warrant charging him with Second Degree Murder while Armed.