Homicide Watch D.C.

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.

Read more

Judge Ronna Beck found probable cause Friday that Don Demichie Page Jr. and Wesley Monroe both participated in the shooting death of Quentin Lavar White. Page and Monroe remain held while a grand jury investigates the case.

In the early morning hours of June 22, police found White with a gunshot wound to the chest in the 3500 block of East Capitol Street Southeast. Emergency personnel transported White to a hospital where he later died from his injuries.

Page and Monroe were arrested in July on suspicion of first-degree murder while armed in connection with White’s death.

At their preliminary hearing Friday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Bradford said there are “no facts to indicate that [Page’s] actions were in defense of another or self-defense,” adding that Monroe should be charged on the basis that he “aided and abetted, specifically by inciting” the shooting.

Metropolitan Police Detective Robert Cephas testified Friday that he believes the argument that led to White’s death began after someone yelled “free Khari Williams,” and that the statement upset Monroe.
Read more

The victim of a fatal shooting that occurred in Southeast D.C. Thursday has been identified as 25-year-old Torrence Joseph Allen.

A little before 8:00 p.m. Thursday, Allen was found in the 4100 block of Wheeler Road SE, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He later died at the hospital.

A press release from MPD is after the jump.
Read more

Derrell Bennett pleaded guilty for a second time Wednesday to second-degree murder while armed in connection with the 2010 shooting death of 29-year-old Keith Banks.

Bennett, 24, first pled guilty in connection with Banks’ death in December 2012, but in January he withdrew that plea.
Read more

Peter Hendy was ordered held today pending a preliminary hearing on a charge that he fatally struck his girlfriend’s four-year-old boy.

Hendy, 33, did not contest any finding of probable cause at his presentment on the charge Wednesday. According to charging documents, in an interview with police, Hendy said he struck the child for being a “smart mouth kid.”

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 30.

Charging documents state that Hendy told police he took the child, Kamari Zavon Taylor, outside to ride his scooter after his mother left for work at about 10:45 Monday morning. When the child rode out of an area where Hendy could see him, he admonished him, Hendy told police.
Read more

The Monday death of 4-year-old Kamari Zavon Taylor of Northeast DC has been ruled a homicide; a 33-year-old Northeast DC man has been arrested.

Police said Wedneday morning that Taylor was found unconscious in the 5600 block of Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue, Northeast. He was taken to Children’s National Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy determined he had suffered blunt force trauma.

Shortly after midnight Tuesday, 33-year-old Peter Hendy was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder in connection with the child’s death.

Taylor is the second four-year-old to be killed in DC this year; the first was Samauri Jenkins. Both are the youngest homicide victims to date.

A press release from MPD is after the jump.
Read more

Homicide detectives are investigating the death of a child found unconscious Monday in Northeast D.C.

Around 2:00 p.m. Monday medical personnel responded to the 5600 block of Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue NE to help 4-year-old Kamari Zavon Taylor, who was unconscious. Taylor was taken to Children’s National Medical Center and pronounced dead.

The cause and manner of Taylor’s death remains undetermined pending a ruling from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

An MPD press release is after the jump.
Read more

Prosecutors in the “21st and Vietnam” murder trial officially rested their case Monday after a subpoenaed witness refused— still— to cooperate.

Amber Middleton, 22, took the stand three times Monday, outside the presence of jurors, and again refused to answer questions from prosecutors.

Charging documents related to Middleton say she was subpoenaed to appear in court June 10 to testify in the trial charging Johnnie Harris and Stanley Moghalu with the shooting death of 36-year-old Steven Curtis Moore. Middleton is believed to have information relating to Moore’s murder, which occurred Dec. 3, 2011, in the 1100 block of 21st Street Northeast.
Read more

Melvin Quick was ordered held Saturday on a charge of first-degree murder while armed pending a preliminary hearing in connection with the shooting death of 36-year-old Mikey Ledbetter.

Police found Ledbetter shot at about 5:30 a.m. on August 2 at 18th and Q streets Southeast. He was transported to a local hospital where he died later that morning.

According to arrest documents in the case, police believe Ledbetter was shot and robbed while sitting in a vehicle.
Read more

In brief:

Three homicides were recorded this week:

• Twenty-two year old Julisa Brittney Washington was fatally stabbed in Southeast DC mid-morning Monday. Her boyfriend, 23-year-old Stefon Kirkpatrick, was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder while armed in connection with the case.
• Thirty-six-year-old Mikey Ledbetter was fatally shot Friday morning. Melvin Quick, 27, was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder in connection with the case.
• The death of a Maryland man which occurred more than two years ago was been ruled a homicide and a suspect was arrested. Marc Emilio Dancy, 37, was found Jan. 23, 2011, unconscious in the 3000 block of 7th Street Northeast. He had suffered blunt force trauma to his head and chest. Dancy’s manner of death was initially ruled as undetermined, but further investigation revealed that he suffered injuries during an altercation with another person. On Wednesday, Dancy’s manner of death was determined to be a homicide, and police arrested 39-year-old Melvin Lamond Linkins on a charge of second-degree murder.

Jermaine Brown, 34, was arrested on a charge of first-degree murder in connection with the death of Randolph Scott Harris Jr. Harris was found last week inside an apartment in the 1000 block of Euclid Street Northwest suffering from burns and gunshot wounds.

The only suspect in the Latisha Frazier murder case to stand trial was sentenced this week for his role in the attack. Johnnie Sweet was sentenced to 52 years in prison. Later in the week, Antoine McCullough was sentenced to two years probation in connection with a charge of tampering with evidence. Frazier, 18, was kidnapped and killed in August 2010.

A mistrial was declared in the case against James Sandidge, after the jury notified the court for the second time that they were deadlocked. Sandidge is charged with first-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of Keenan Jerel Lee in October 2011. During deliberations, jurors expressed concerns about their contact with other observers in the case believed to be family members of either Sandidge or Lee. On Wednesday, the jury foreperson told the court that the jury had again reached an impasse, though eleven jurors were prepared to find Sandidge guilty of manslaughter.

Mark Anthony Coates, one of two suspects arrested in connection with the 2011 strangulation death of 56-year-old Leroy Studevant, pleaded guilty Tuesday to second-degree murder while armed.

Shawn Lewis pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on Wednesday in connection with the death of 38-year-old Douglas Farley.

Deon Jefferson pleaded guilty Thursday to voluntary manslaughter and armed robbery in connection with the 2012 stabbing death of 18-year-old Olijawon Griffin.

Rashid Caviness-Bey was sentenced to 27 years in prison in connection with the shooting death of 19-year-old Osman Al-Akbar.

Mental health experts have found Leon Allen Smith competent to stand trial for the stabbing death of Stephan Manuel Pool, despite Smith’s insistence that he suffers hallucinations, nightmares and paranoia.