Angelo Jones | Homicide Watch DC

Curtis Patterson Sentenced to 11 1/2 Years In Angelo Jones Murder Case

Rebecca Zisser — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 10:16:58 -0400

Curtis Patterson was sentenced today to 11 1/2 years in prison for obstruction of justice and gun possession in connection with the October 2010 shooting death of Angelo Jones.

At sentencing, Patterson told Judge Thomas Motley that he was just following the "rules of the street" when he gave his cousin the gun used to shoot Jones.

Motley also sentenced Patterson to three years of supervised release following his jail sentence. In those three years he will be required to obtain his GED and attend parenting classes.

Patterson was charged with first-degree murder in Oct. 2011 as a co-defendant in Rickey Pharr's murder case.

According to the government’s evidence presented at Pharr’s trial, on Oct. 2, 2010, Pharr encountered Jones at a craps game near Dix Street in Northeast DC. Pharr believed that Jones was an informant to police.

Prosecutor Reagan Taylor told jurors at trial that after Pharr saw Jones at the game, he asked Patterson for a gun. Patterson gave it to him, Taylor said.

Patterson was scheduled to stand trial with Pharr, but the cases were severed just days before the February trial.

Patterson pled guilty in March to illegal possession of a firearm and obstruction of justice. His cousin and co-defendant, Rickey Pharr, was convicted of first-degree murder in February and sentenced to 40 years in prison in April.

A proffer, which Patterson told the court was true, states that Pharr told Patterson about an argument he had with Jones and Pharr asked Patterson for a gun. But Patterson refused to give him one. Later on, Patterson obtained a gun and gave it to Pharr.

The proffer also states that Patterson was interviewed by police and subpoenaed after Jones’ death. While under oath before the Grand Jury, Patterson lied about being asked for a gun, the proffer states.

Defense Attorney's Absence Delays Curtis Patterson Sentencing Twice

Laura Amico — Fri, 25 May 2012 14:26:09 -0400

Twice this month Curtis Patterson has been brought before the court for sentencing, only to be sent back to the cell block without a sentence because his attorney has been absent.

Patterson, 23, pled guilty in March to illegal possession of a firearm and obstruction of justice in connection with the shooting death of Angelo Jones.

The government has asked that Patterson be sentenced to eleven and a half years in prison.

He entered the plea just three weeks before his trial date. He was charged in Oct. 2011 with seven counts connected to the case, including one count of first-degree murder while armed. His co-defendant, Rickey Pharr, was convicted of first-degree murder on Feb. 29. Pharr was sentenced to 40 years in prison.

A new sentencing date, the third, has been set for June 13 at 9:15 a.m.

Correction: An earlier version of this article read "Jones was sentenced to 40 years in prison." It should have read "Pharr was sentenced to 40 years in prison."

40 Year Prison Sentence for Rickey Pharr in Shooting Death of Angelo Jones

Laura Amico — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:21:20 -0400

Rickey Pharr was sentenced today to 40 years in prison for the shooting death of Angelo Jones in Clay Terrace in 2010.

Pharr, 28, was found guilty of first-degree murder in February.

A press release from the US Attorney's Office is after the jump.

District Man Sentenced to 40 Years in Prison For 2010 Slaying in Northeast Washington
- Defendant Shot Victim Multiple Times in the Back -

WASHINGTON - Rickey Pharr, 28, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 40 years in prison for first-degree premeditated murder while armed, obstruction of justice, and related charges in a slaying in Northeast Washington, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced.

Pharr was convicted by a jury in February 2012, following a two-week trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. He was sentenced by the Honorable Thomas J. Motley.

According to the government’s evidence, Pharr and the victim, Angelo Jones, 31, were both involved in a dice game early October 2, 2010, in a parking lot in the 5300 block of Dix Street NE, when Pharr began to call Mr. Jones “hot,” accusing him of being a government informant. Following an argument between the two, Pharr went to another person and requested a gun, but he eventually left the area near the dice game. Pharr later returned armed with a gun and shot Mr. Jones six times in the back of his body as he tried to walk away from the defendant.

After the murder, Pharr fled to his own neighborhood where he admitted to multiple witnesses that he had just “slumped” a person - meaning that he had killed someone. Pharr then went on to actively hide evidence and recruit his friends to provide false alibis to the police and to his own lawyer.

A second man, Curtis Patterson, 23, of Washington, D.C., pled guilty last month to obstruction of justice and unlawful possession of a firearm for his role in the crime. He is to be sentenced on May 11, 2012, also by Judge Motley.

In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Machen praised the work of those who investigated the case for the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), including Detectives Konstantinos Giannakoulias, James Wilson, Robert Cephas, Anthony Greene, Gabriel Truby, Joshua Branson, Norma Horne, and Michael Wiggins; Sgt. Habbebullah Pettegrue; Officers Robert Elliot and Natali Thomas; Mobile Crime Technicians Kemper Agee, Leother Strong, Pertheria McIver, Tony Nwani, Tina Ramadhan, and Brenda Floyd; Firearms Examiner Michael Mulderig, and Dr. Joseph Pestaner of the District of Columbia Medical Examiner’s Office.

U.S. Attorney Machen also commended the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Criminal Investigator John Marsh; Litigation Technology Specialists Kimberly Smith, Paul Howell, and William Henderson; Victim/Witness Advocate Marcia Rinker; Victim/Witness Services Coordinator Katina Adams-Washington, and Security Specialists Michael Hailey, Maretta Forrest, and Tanya Via of the Victim Witness Assistance Unit, and Paralegal Delissa Rivers. Finally, he expressed his appreciation for the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Reagan M. Taylor, who investigated the case and prosecuted it at trial.

Mendelson to 911 Director: "How can you ensure that this type of call-handling will not reoccur?"

Laura Amico — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 12:02:58 -0400

DC Councilman Phil Mendelson has asked the District's 911 system director for a full explanation of how a 911 operator failed to respond to a call for help from a witness to Angelo Jones' 2010 shooting death in Clay Terrace.

The call, placed in the early morning hours of October 2, 2010, was part of the investigation into Jones’ death. It was made public as part of evidence at trial and first reported by Homicide Watch.

On the 911 recording, the witness and the operator go back and forth trying to determine the address where help is needed for more than five minutes. Then, with the witness still on the phone asking for help, the shots ring out.

During conversation the caller gave the operator a total of six locations or landmarks, all within about a square mile of each other in Northeast DC. All were within a quarter mile of where Jones was found, but officers were not dispatched because the addresses the caller gave could not be verified by the operator’s computer system. The caller tried to impress upon the 911 operator the importance of the call, saying there were two people, one with a gun, one with a knife, and that an altercation was beginning. When he asks the operator again for help, she responds, “Sir, I’m not coming.”

Then shots ring out in the background. Jones, a 31-year-old father of two, was shot six times.

Mendelson, chair of the Committee on the Judiciary, first pressed Office of Unified Communications Director Jennifer Greene for answers about the call at a meeting last week. In a letter sent to Greene Thursday, and obtained by Homicide Watch Monday, he asked for specifics about the call taker's retraining and any disciplinary action that was taken.

“How can you ensure to the Committee and the residents of the District that this type of call-handling will not reoccur?” Mendelson wrote in the letter sent Thursday to Office of Unified Communications, which manages the District’s 911 and 311 call systems.

He also asked why the 911 call wasn’t traced to determine the caller’s location when the operator couldn’t verify the address.

“When a person calls 911 to report an emergency, an efficient response is crucial,” Mendelson wrote. “I request a full explanation of how the OUC will ensure it can locate callers.”

Homicide Watch reporter Stephanie Czekalinski contributed to this report.

This post has been updated since it was published Monday late morning.

WaPo: DC Council Needs to Examine 911 Operations

Laura Amico — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 11:50:14 -0400

The Washington Post has called for DC City Council to conduct a review of the District's 911 operations in the wake of a 911 call from a witness to Angelo Jones' shooting death.

The call, placed in the early morning hours of October 2, 2010, was part of the investigation into Jones' death. It was made public as part of evidence at trial.

On the 911 recording, the witness and the operator go back and forth trying to determine the address for more than five minutes. Then, with the witness still on the phone asking for help, the shots ring out.

In an editorial published today, The Washington Post said that the call shows "deadly indifference."

Writes the Post:

This glaring instance of indifference, if not ineptitude, by the District’s emergency call center was recently revealed in D.C. Superior Court proceedings; while the administration reports that fixes have been made, it is important that the D.C. Council conduct its own review.

At a budget hearing yesterday for the Office of Unified Communications, which operates the District's 911 operations, OUC Director Jennifer Greene 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.

Read the initial report, and listen to the call, here.

"Surreal" 911 Call of Angelo Jones' Murder Prompts Tough Questions for Emergency System Director

Stephanie Czekalinski — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 19:44:10 -0400

The Office of Unified Communications faced tough questions this morning about a 911 call that came in more than five minutes before Angelo Jones was shot to death in Clay Terrace in 2010.

Councilman Phil Mendelson, chair of the committee on the judiciary, asked Jennifer Greene, director of the OUC, about the call during today’s judiciary committee hearing to discuss proposed 2013 budgets at the John A. Wilson Building downtown.

The recorded conversation between the operator and a witness was "surreal,” Mendelson said.

Greene 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.

On October 1 2, 2010, a man called 911 to ask that officers be sent to the Clay Terrace neighborhood in Northeast DC. One person had a gun, he said. Another had a knife.

But officers were not immediately dispatched because the address the caller gave could not be verified by the operator’s computer system.

Jones, a 31-year-old father of two and a rumored neighborhood “snitch,” was shot six times in the back.

Mendelson asked Greene, of the OUC, why authorities didn’t trace the call to determine the caller’s location when the given address couldn’t be verified.

Greene said it was possible that, because the witness called from a cell, the only information available to the operator was the location of the tower transmitting the call.

Mendelson said that the District upgraded the 911 system about seven years ago to give operators the coordinates of calls made to 911 from cell phones after a person was kidnapped but managed to call 911 from the trunk of a car.

“I expect that when these stories come up again that this information is used,” he said.

Mendelson also wanted to know why the operator didn’t dispatch the police cars the witness said were parked near the scene.

Greene said it was unclear from the call which district or quadrant of the city the call was coming. The operator, therefore, didn’t know which dispatcher to contact regarding the cruisers, which were off-duty at the time.

Mendelson disagreed. “There was no question that [the caller] was in the Northeast quadrant and was near Clay Terrace,” he said.

Since Jones’ death, the operator was retrained and the computer system operators use to verify addresses has been upgraded so they can search by landmarks, Greene said.

At the time of the shooting, the computer system couldn’t search by landmarks, she said. The upgrade was made in July 2011 after operators had similar difficulties while handling calls unrelated to the shooting.

The 911 recording was prime evidence against Rickey Pharr. Pharr was ultimately found guilty of first-degree murder while armed in Jones’ death.

Mendelson also expressed concern that emergency responders were not receiving all the information needed to find the precise locations of emergencies.

His office recently called 911 because of a medical emergency, Mendelson said. The medics were delayed because, although they found the building, they didn't have the suite number even though those who called 911 had given the operator the suite number, he said.

"How does that happen?" he asked.

Greene said all the information, including a suite number is entered into the computer system used to communicate with first responders. She didn't know why the medics didn't have the suite number in Mendelson's case.

OUC answered 4 million 911 calls during the last fiscal year, Greene said during the hearing. This year, call takers have fielded nearly 610,000 911 calls. Ninety-five percent of those calls were answered in under five seconds.

The 911 call that prompted Mendelson's questioning of OUC was first reported by Homicide Watch. Find complete coverage of the case here.

Listen to the audio below.

DC Councilman Promises Review of 911 Tape of Angelo Jones Shooting

Laura Amico — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 13:38:57 -0400

DC Councilman Phil Mendelson has promised a review of a 911 call made by a witness to Angelo Jones' 2010 murder in Clay Terrace.

In the call, a young man who ultimately testified about Jones' murder, spends more than five minutes speaking with a 911 operator who appears unable to dispatch assistance without a precise address; the young man is unable to give a precise address but asks for help on Clay Terrace, around 53rd and 54th streets, near H.D. Woodson High School. More than five minutes after the call is placed, the gunshots that the caller was trying to prevent ring out, leaving Jones dead.

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

"It's disturbing, because in an emergency somebody calls for help and they expect help, not a five minute conversation that ends with gunshots," Mendelson told WTOP. "You look at this particular situation and it's just frustrating. You feel for the guy who was calling, five minutes on the phone trying to explain where he is, and he doesn't know. But he's got a good enough idea that you would think they could have sent emergency response."

Mendelson chairs the Committee on the Judiciary, which oversees the city's 911 system.

Homicide Watch DC first reported on the tape during the trial in February, and posted the audio, with response from Office of Unified Communications Director Jennifer Greene and others, on Friday.

Mendelson did not return Homicide Watch's requests for comment on the recording during the week.

MPD Union Chief Kristopher Baumann said the 911 operator's handling of the call was "inexcusable" and that blame lay with Mendelson.

"The fact that this incident has not generated a complete overhaul in training, response, and protocols indicates that the public safety system is dysfunctional," he said. "For the past six years, under Mr. Mendelson legislative oversight over public safety has been nonexistent and problems have been allowed to fester."

The 911 Call Before the Gunshots: Could Angelo Jones have been Saved?

Laura Amico — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 23:28:42 -0400

In Clay Terrace the shots ring out, first one: bang. Then over and over again. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.

"You heard that?" a young man asks a 911 operator.

"Yes, I heard it," she says. "I heard it."

That shooting, recorded in a 911 call early in the morning of Oct. 2, 2010, killed 31-year-old Angelo Jones, a father of two and rumored neighborhood "snitch."

He was shot six times in the back. When emergency responders arrived, they found him fallen to the ground of the Clay Terrace parking lot where the shooting had taken place.

The 911 recording, which captured more than five minutes of a witness's conversation with the operator before the shots rang out, was prime evidence in the trial against Rickey Pharr last month.

In closing arguments Prosecutor Reagan Taylor asked the jury to remember the call.

“You heard the six shots that killed Angelo Jones,” she said. “As you heard those shots you heard [the witness] telling you who the shooter was.”

Pharr was ultimately found guilty of first-degree murder while armed in Jones' death.

While Jones' family has taken solace in the conviction, they say the 911 call is also evidence that Jones' death could have been prevented.

"When I heard the 911 call I was dismayed," said Jones' sister, Aisha Jones. "I was shocked and truly hurt. This person is trying to prevent my brother from getting shot and gunned down, but to what effect?"

The caller, a young man who ultimately testified about Jones' murder, said he called 911 in order to prevent the shooting from happening. Community leaders and some in law enforcement say that had the call been handled differently, he could have been successful, that the shooting could have been prevented.

A Good Address

On Oct. 1, 2010 Jones, known to family and friends as "Lochie," was playing craps in a parking lot off of Dix Street Northeast. It was a Friday night and he played past midnight into the early hours of Saturday morning. He wore a track jacket and blue jeans, his face highlighted with "personality glasses," non-prescription frames worn for style.

Lots of people were out that night in Clay Terrace: there were fifty or sixty people hanging around the parking lot craps game, and others were sitting on the porches of nearby apartments. When Pharr showed up at the craps game with a gun, one of those people called 911.

911 operator: Hello?

Caller: Yeah, I need DC police.

911 operator: Where?

Caller: I'm around Clay Terrace.

911 operator: What's the location sir?

Caller: I'm... 5339. In the back of 5339. I’m talking low because I’m like in the crowd.

911 operator: Ok. 5339. What street?

Caller: It’s ah, 53rd Street.... (silence)... hello?

But the 911 operator can't find that address.

He tries to tell her, again and again where he is. Clay Terrace. 53rd Street. 54th Street. The number 300 is on the street sign. The house number is 5339. He can see the H.D. Woodson construction nearby. But two of the addresses he gives, 5335 53rd St NE and 5335 54th St NE, don't exist.

"Now they’re getting into an altercation," he tells the 911 operator.

5335 54th Street, he says again.

911 operator: That’s not a good address.

Caller: That’s what I’m right behind though. Like, right on the corner. That’s what it say on the corner. 53rd and it say thats the house where I’m by. There’s two police cars right here.

911 operator: It’s not coming up as a good address in the computer, sir.

Caller: Well, if you could come, Clay Terrace, right-

911 operator: Sir, I’m not coming.

Caller: Nah, I’m just saying, I know you’re the dispatcher. I’m just saying like you need to send some officers.

For five and a half minutes the caller and 911 call taker go back and forth in this manner. Then gunshots. Sirens. And Jones is dead.

Caller: You heard that?

911 operator: Yes. I heard it. I heard it.

Caller: That’s why I’m trying to tell you all to come quick.

Pharr, 28, was found guilty of first-degree murder while armed at a trial last month. When the young man who placed the 911 call reluctantly took the stand as a government witness he listened as his eight-minute call for help was played for the jury.

“All I wanted to do was prevent the incident from happening,” he testified. “I was just trying to prevent the whole scenario, Angelo getting killed and someone going to jail and all.”

The Streets of Clay Terrace

A total of six locations or landmarks were given by the caller to the 911 operator before Jones was shot, all within about a square mile of each other in Northeast DC. All were within a quarter mile of where Jones was found.

View 911 Call in a larger map

People familiar with the neighborhood, including MPD officers and community leaders interviewed for this story, said that while the call did not pin down a specific usable address, the caller's descriptions were clear enough to give a general sense of where a crime was about to occur.

For those less familiar with the neighborhood, it's possible to put the locations into Google Maps for a rough estimate of the streets the caller is describing. All but one of those locations fall within a four block section of Clay Terrace.

"5400 block and 5300 block, police could have just went through the alleys went through the blocks," said Ron Moten, co-founder of Peaceoholics. "There's someone out there with a gun, that's like you know a Code Blue, you respond to the emergency. He was trying to stop a crime and the system didn't work. That is horrible and could have been prevented."

It's impossible to know what could have been different that night, what set of circumstances then could have meant Jones being alive now.

Jennifer Greene, director of the Office of Unified Communications, the intake center for the District's 911 calls, said that system upgrades put in place since Oct. 2010 could have helped in the Clay Terrace shooting. Those upgrades, she said, allow 911 operators to enter dispatch locations by searching landmarks. When the caller mentioned that he could see H.D. Woodson High School, the 911 operator could enter that location as a landmark, Greene said. But those upgrades weren't in place in 2010.

But even with the system OUC used in 2010, the 911 operator could have done more to find out where the young man was calling from, Greene said.

"She was trying to put in 5339 53rd street, which is not a good address in the system," Greene said of the operator. "In her efforts to try to find a good location she kept trying to use that address with 53rd or 54th street; she probably should have asked for a cross street."

Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier declined to comment about the call, saying that OUC did not come under her purview.

A source familiar with the call said that after hearing the recording, MPD made an official complaint to OUC about the operator's handling of the call. Greene, who took leadership of OUC three months after the Clay Terrace shooting, said she was unaware of the status any complaints, if there were any at all, made in relation to this specific case.

Greene said the operator's statement that she was "not coming" to help was "unprofessional," and that the call was "certainly not something that I would have liked to have seen or heard."

Pharr's Defense Attorney, Jason Downs, said it was "incompetent" and "rude."

Prosecutor Reagan Taylor told the jury, "It was inexcusable. It is a sad reflection of what one would hope for when they call for help."

But it's Aisha Jones who's most angry about what she heard in that young man's 911 call for help.

"My brother could still be alive," she said. "This murder could have been prevented."

Listen to the 911 call by clicking the orange arrow in the audio player below.

Curtis Patterson Pleads "Guilty" to Weapons, Obstruction Charges in Death of Angelo Jones

Laura Amico — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 13:53:53 -0400

Curtis Patterson pled guilty last week to illegal possession of a firearm and obstruction of justice in connection with the shooting death of Angelo Jones.

Patterson was charged in Oct. 2011 with seven counts connected to the case, including one count of first-degree murder while armed. His co-defendant, Rickey Pharr, was convicted of first-degree murder on Feb. 29.

Patterson was scheduled to stand trial with Pharr, but the cases were severed just days before trial.

According to the government’s evidence presented at Pharr's trial, on Oct. 2, 2010, Pharr encountered Jones at a craps game near Dix Street in Northeast DC. Pharr believed that Jones was an informant to police.

Prosecutor Reagan Taylor told jurors that once Pharr had seen Jones, he asked Patterson for a gun. Patterson gave it to him, Taylor said.

The proffer also states that Patterson was interviewed by police and subpoenaed after Jones' death. While under oath before the Grand Jury, Patterson lied about being asked for a gun, the proffer states.

Patterson is scheduled for sentencing May 11.

Plea documents are below.

USAO on "Guilty" Verdict in Rickey Pharr Case

Laura Amico — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 13:09:50 -0500

The US Attorney's Office today issued the following news release about the "guilty" verdict in Rickey Pharr's murder trial yesterday. For more about the case see this page.

District Man Convicted of First-Degree Premeditated Murder While Armed in 2010 Slaying in Northeast Washington - Defendant Shot Victim Multiple Times in the Back -

WASHINGTON - Rickey Pharr, 28, of Washington, D.C., has been convicted by a jury of first-degree premeditated murder while armed, obstruction of justice, and related charges stemming from a 2010 slaying in Northeast Washington, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced today.

Pharr was convicted of the charges on February 29, 2012, following a two-week trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. He is to be sentenced on April 27, 2012 by the Honorable Thomas J. Motley. Pharr faces a minimum of 35 years in prison for his crimes.

According to the government’s evidence, Pharr and the victim, Angelo Jones, 31, were both involved in a dice game early October 2, 2010, in a parking lot in the 5300 block of Dix Street NE, when Pharr began to call Mr. Jones “hot,” accusing him of being a government informant. Following an argument between the two, Pharr went to another person and requested a gun, but he eventually left the area near the dice game. Pharr later returned armed with a gun and shot Mr. Jones six times in the back of his body as he tried to walk away from the defendant.

After the murder, Pharr fled to his own neighborhood where he admitted to multiple witnesses that he had just “slumped” a person - meaning that he had killed a person. Pharr then went on to actively hide evidence and recruit his friends to provide false alibis to the police and to his own lawyer.

A second man, Curtis Patterson, 23, also of Washington, D.C., also was charged in this offense. He has pled not guilty and is awaiting trial on April 9, 2012 before Judge Motley.

In announcing the verdict, U.S. Attorney Machen praised the work of those who investigated the case for the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), including Detectives Konstantinos Giannakoulias, James Wilson, Robert Cephas, Anthony Greene, Gabriel Truby, Joshua Branson, Norma Horne, and Michael Wiggins; Sgt. Habbebullah Pettegrue; Officers Robert Elliot and Natali Thomas; Mobile Crime Technicians Kemper Agee, Leother Strong, Pertheria McIver, Tony Nwani, Tina Ramadhan, and Brenda Floyd; Firearms Examiner Michael Mulderig, and Dr. Joseph Pestaner of the District of Columbia Medical Examiner’s Office.

U.S. Attorney Machen also commended the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Criminal Investigator John Marsh; Litigation Technology Specialists Kimberly Smith, Paul Howell, and William Henderson; Victim/Witness Advocate Marcia Rinker and Security Specialists Michael Hailey, Maretta Forrest, and Tanya Via of the Victim Witness Assistance Unit, and Paralegal Delissa Rivers. Finally, he expressed his appreciation for the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Reagan M. Taylor, who investigated the case and prosecuted it at trial.

Comment of the Day: "Justice has been Served"

Laura Amico — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 15:00:34 -0500

UPDATED with comment from Aisha Jones

Angelo Jones' mother, Diane Jenkins, issued the following statement today following the "guilty" verdict in the case against Rickey Pharr:

I the Mother of Angelo Jones wishes to give thanks to God, Regan Taylor, Det. Gus,The Courts, Jury, The Government, MPD,The Detectives,Medical Examiner,Gun Expert and all those who help in this case. Although it will not bring my son back,but it will stop him(Ricky Pharr aka Packy) from doing this to another person,Son,Father,Brother,Uncle and Friend. I also would like to thank God again and my daughters Aisha, Aaronica, Cheryl for there persistant in this matter also my daughter Aisha Jones was at every status hearing and trial along with Cheryl,Keona,Pam I would like to thank them also. My son was very close to his kids very close and not only did Packy take their dad away from them for ever the sad part of this is Lochie will never be able to attend his kids graduation's, take his daughter to the father daughter dance or tell his son(Angelo Jr. About girls and what they like this is something that will hurt them the most,but with the help of my Lord & Savior Jesus Christ he will help them through it all JUSTICE HAS BEEN SERVED AND NOW WE MUST THANK GOD AND CONVICT THE OTHER PERSON ALSO IT WILL NEVER END.

MOTHER OF SON ANGELO D JONES,SR
DIANE JENKINS

My opinion on the verdict is this I am satisfied with it and I am glad that the jury saw what I saw a man kill an unarmed man from behind, I lost a brother and my bestfriend, we were like unbreakable he meant the world to me and I wouldn't ask for anything more I miss my brother more than words can say, I would like to thank Regan Taylor,Det.Gus,The Jury,MPD, Medical Examiner, Gun Expert,The Judge and all the witnesses that came forward and TOLD THE TRUTH, I am thinking about all other famalies that have lost a loved on to homicide and wish for them to get justice also,however I must admit that this was very tuff for our family, I would also like to thank My husband for being there for me through all of this and also a few close family members who I love dearly Cheryl,Plum,Keona & Pam they helped me more than they know, also my brother left behind two wonderful & smart children Angel & Angelo Jones Jr we must keep them in our hearts and prayers because they need us the most; R.I.Paradise&peace Lochie aka Toast WE LOVE & MISS U "GONE BUT U WILL NEVER EVER EVER BE!!!!!!! -Aisha Jones

"Guilty" Verdict in Rickey Pharr Case

Laura Amico — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 12:48:42 -0500

Rickey Pharr was found guilty today of first-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of Angelo Jones in Northeast DC in Oct. 2010.

The jury of seven women and five men found Pharr guilty on all counts: first-degree murder, obstruction of justice, and three weapons charges.

Pharr, dressed in a sherbet green shirt, yellow tie, and brown pants for the second day of jury deliberations, looked back at his family briefly after the verdict was read. Sentencing was scheduled for April 27.

A summary of the case is here.

Jury Deliberations Continue in Rickey Pharr Murder Case

Laura Amico — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 17:49:03 -0500

The case against Rickey Pharr, charing him with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Angelo Jones, went to the jury this morning but jurors failed to reach a verdict by the end of the day.

They are tasked with findings on five counts: first-degree murder, obstruction of justice, and three weapons charges. If they can't convict on a first-degree murder charge, they've been instructed to consider second-degree murder.

A summary of the case is here.

Jurors are expected back for deliberations Wednesday morning.

Dix Street Murder Case is "Huge Embarrassment to the Government," Rickey Pharr's Defense Attorney Says

Laura Amico — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 20:21:09 -0500

Jurors in the murder case against Rickey Pharr are expected to begin deliberating tomorrow on a case that Pharr's defense attorney on Monday called "a huge embarrassment to the government."

According to the government's evidence presented at trial and summarized in closing statements Monday afternoon, on Oct. 2, 2010, Pharr encountered Angelo Jones at a craps game near Dix Street in Northeast DC. Pharr believed that Jones was an informant to police, an allegation that, attorneys on both sides said, could lead to death in some neighborhoods.

Prosecutor Regan Taylor told jurors that once Pharr had seen Jones, he asked Curtis Patterson, a former co-defendant in the case, for a gun. Patterson gave it to him, Taylor said.

One of the people gathered for the craps game and partying on Dix Street that night called 911 to ask for help. But for about five minutes the dispatcher struggled to determine where the young man was calling from. Then, while the young man attempted to find another address to give the dispatcher, gunshots were heard in the background. The witness described the shooter to the dispatcher: a black male with a long beard.

On Monday Taylor reminded the jury of that call.

"You heard the six shots that killed Angelo Jones," she said. "As you heard those shots you heard [the witness] telling you who the shooter was."

Taylor contends that Pharr matched that physical description the night of the shooting.

After the shooting, Taylor said, Pharr left the parking lot, cutting through Marvin Gaye Park on his way back to Lincoln Heights, dropping the gun in the trash on his way.

A witness testified that about five minutes after hearing gunshots, she saw a pickup truck pull into the Lincoln Heights neighborhood and Pharr got out of the passenger side. He told the woman he had "slumped," or killed, someone, she told the court Thursday, then he took off his hat and shirt and gave them to her.

Of the killing, the woman said Pharr told her a "boy" pulled out a knife, then Patterson passed Pharr a gun and Pharr shot the "boy." She said Pharr said he threw the gun in a trash can in Marvin Gaye Park. Pharr, Patterson, the woman and her friend then walked to the park to get the gun, she said. They retrieved it and Pharr asked the woman to hold on to it for him, she said. She returned it to him the next night.

"I didn't know what to do with it," she said, adding that she also threw away Pharr's t-shirt. The gun has not been found by MPD.

That lack of a gun, or any other physical evidence, is one of many flaws in the governments' case, Jason Downs, Pharr's defense attorney, said Monday in closing arguments.

Downs told the jury that Pharr is innocent. Someone else shot Jones, he said, and the government "paid and pressured" witnesses to point the finger at Pharr.

"You get what you pay for," he said, telling jurors of how the government paid for a hotel for four months for one witness, then gave her money for a down payment on a new apartment.

"She didn't come in here to tell the truth," Downs said of that witness. "She came into this courtroom to repay the government."

Downs said other witnesses were pressured by MPD detectives and the court itself. Detective Konstantinos Giannakoulias told the court that he had received text messages from a witness in the case concerned about his safety. On the stand, that witness said that Giannakoulias had initiated the texting with a message shortly after the witness failed to identify Pharr in a photo line-up. The witness said he felt pressured in the exchange.

Another witness said that before going into the grand jury, a detective talked to him about "jail time," Downs said, adding that one witness only testified to the grand jury when a judge ordered him to do so.

Why would the government go to such lengths to close a case? Downs asked the jury.

"This case is a huge embarrassment to the government," he said, answering his own question.

According to the defense, the night Jones was killed, eight police officers were sitting at the top of a hill near Dix Street in Clay Terrace, looking down on the parking lot where Jones would be shot. Fifty to sixty people people were partying down there, in what officers called "the hole," Downs said, and the smell of marijuana wafted up to them.

"The detectives did nothing," Downs said. "Either you have eight police officers too scared to go down into the hole, or they didn't care," Downs said. "But it gets worse. You heard that 911 call."

"She's not only incompetent, she's rude," Downs said of the dispatcher.

Taylor, the prosecutor, did not dispute that the 911 call was unfortunate.

"It was inexcusable," she said. "It is a sad reflection of what one would hope for when they call for help. But the dispatcher is not the one on trial."

As to the witnesses who testified, Taylor said they were "no friend of the government."

"'Hot' means 'snitch.' 'Hot' means that you talk to police. 'Hot' means that you come to court. 'Hot' means that you testify. Being a snitch is dangerous."

Those who testified likely knew that already, all too well, Taylor said. One, she said, "was freaked out about becoming what Angelo Jones was being called."

The trial has been marked by fits and starts. The jury was seated Feb. 16, a Thursday, and heard opening arguments that day. During the next five days of testimony, Judge Thomas Motley held about a dozen bench conferences, excusing the jury for ten minutes to several hours for each. On Monday, as Taylor was nearing the end of her closing arguments, a fire alarm forced the evacuation of the courthouse and delayed the trial by about an hour.

Prosecutors are scheduled to make a rebuttal closing statement around 10 a.m., and then the case will go to the jury: a panel nine women and five men (including alternates).

Witness recounts hiding gun, T-shirt for Pharr

Lindsey Anderson — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 21:56:16 -0500

A 22-year-old witness who says she held Rickey Pharr’s gun, T-shirt and hat after he allegedly shot Angelo Jones took the stand today in the first-degree murder trial against Pharr.

The witness, a friend of Pharr’s, said she was drinking a cup of champagne on a front porch in Lincoln Heights with a friend when they heard gunshots coming from the direction of the Clay Terrace neighborhood.

A pickup truck pulled into the Lincoln Heights neighborhood about five minutes after the shooting, the woman told the jury, and Pharr got out of the passenger side. He told the woman he had “slumped,” or killed, someone, she said, then he took off his hat and shirt and gave them to her.

“It just happened so quick. I just grabbed it and took it in the house,” she said.

Pharr, Curtis Patterson and a third person were outside when the witness returned.

Of the killing, the woman said Pharr told her a “boy” pulled out a knife, then Patterson passed Pharr a gun and Pharr shot the “boy." She said Pharr said he threw the gun in a trash can in Marvin Gaye Park. Pharr, Patterson, the woman and her friend then walked to the park to get the gun, she said. They retrieved it and Pharr asked the woman to hold on to it for him, she said. She returned it to him the next night.

“I didn’t know what to do with it,” she said, adding that she also threw away Pharr's T-shirt.

At trial Thursday, a near-indecipherable recorded phone conversation between Pharr and the woman was played. In the call Pharr asks her if she has met with his lawyer and asks her to tell the lawyer that he was in Lincoln Heights during the shooting. The woman said she didn’t want to lie, and that she set up an appointment with Pharr's attorney but never went to it.

The government later subpoenaed her and she received immunity for her involvement in the crime in exchange for her testimony. But, she told the court, she felt unsafe as a government witness.

After testifying before the grand jury, she said, her mother outed her as a "snitch." She was pregnant at the time and said she didn’t feel safe living in Lincoln Heights. The government then paid $139 a night for her to stay at a hotel for four months and provided her with $1,500, Pharr's attorney said. The woman said the money was for food.

The trial will resume Monday at 9:30 a.m. Judge Thomas Motley said he expects the jury to begin deliberation by Tuesday.