After a third full day of deliberations, the jury is still out in the case of Dominique Bassil, who is on trial for the Aug. 2011 stabbing death of her boyfriend, Vance Harris III.
Yesterday, the jury asked Judge Robert Morin if they could consider “question number two” if they could not come to an agreement on question one.
They were instructed to continue deliberating on the first question related to the charge of second-degree murder.
The jury is expected to return at 9:30 a.m. Friday to continue deliberations.
Prosecutors offered Arvel Wills a plea agreement on Wednesday that would reduce the charges against him from second-degree murder to involuntary manslaughter.
Wills is charged in the May 26 murder of his cousin, Dewayne Wills.
Wills would also plead guilty to felony possession of a firearm as part of the deal, prosecutors said. When he was arrested, Wills was found with a 9 mm Ruger P89 handgun and 13 rounds of ammunition, for which he didn’t have a license. He was also on supervised release for a previous felony conviction.
Wills is scheduled to appear in court again on Dec. 11, giving him a little more than a month to decide whether or not to accept the government’s offer.
Judge Thomas Motley ruled Tuesday that there was “barely” probable cause to send the second-degree murder case against Lloyd Bright to a Grand Jury.
Bright is suspected of killing Darryl Eugene Sweet, Sr., in July.
“I find, barely, probable cause, but that’s the bare bones, counselor,” Motley told Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Bradford Tuesday. Read more
Today is election day, and the AP has a story about an effort to help those currently held at DC jail vote:
While it seemed ordinary, the voting that went on at the D.C. jail and a facility where women are housed next door is unique. Most states and the District of Columbia bar prisoners serving time on a felony conviction from voting. But inmates awaiting trial or serving a sentence for a misdemeanor, an estimated 700,000 people nationwide, are allowed to vote as long as they aren’t barred by a past felony conviction.
Most states, however, don’t actively help these people vote, said Marc Mauer, the executive director of The Sentencing Project, a Washington-based group that advocates for sentencing reform and alternatives to prison.
“In the vast majority of jails there’s absolutely nothing being done to make that happen,” Mauer said.
Read the whole story here.
A motion for a new trial in the case against Corey Yates was denied Monday after Judge Thomas Motley concluded that information prosecutors gave Yates’ defense attorneys after the trial ended wasn’t significant enough to change the outcome of the case.
Yates was convicted in August of second-degree murder in the death of Darrel Hendy. Yates’ co-defendant, Chamontae Walker, was convicted of first-degree murder. A third suspect, Meeko Carraway, pleaded guilty in the case and was sentenced to 25 years in prison in April.
Read more
Dominique Bassil’s fate is now in the hands of the five men and seven women who must decide whether she was acting in self-defense when she stabbed and killed her boyfriend, Vance Harris II, on Aug. 13, 2011.
Jurors were sent to deliberations Monday afternoon after hearing closing arguments in the case. The trial began Oct. 23.
Bassil is charged with second-degree murder.
Read more
A 22-year-old man is dead after a shooting early Sunday morning in the 300 block of Ridge Road Southeast. Police have identified him as Andre Jackson of Southeast D.C.
NBC Washington reported that shots were heard around 2:15 a.m. Read more
In brief:
Hurricane Sandy closed the court for two days Monday and Tuesday as its powerful winds caused scattered power outages and fallen trees and shut down the region’s entire public transportation system.
A Metropolitan Police Department officer shot and killed a man after he allegedly stabbed the officer Friday morning. The officer received treatment for his injuries, according to news reports.
Dominique Bassil took the stand in her murder trial Thursday to argue that she stabbed boyfriend Vance Harris II in self-defense. Harris had violent tendencies, the defense argued.
Malik Shabazz, formerly known as Maurice Lee Yancey, pled guilty to beating Demetrius Dempsey in 2007 with a landscaping brick. Dempsey received care in a skilled nursing home for years after the attack, but died from his injuries in late 2010. Shabazz was indicted and charged with first-degree murder while armed, but pled guilty to the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter.
Officers were investigating a homicide at 4th and V Street Northeast Wednesday evening. Anthony Weathers, 25, was shot in an alley and died near the 2000 block of 4th Street Northeast. MPD has not named a suspect in the case.
Four men were sentenced to prison terms after being convicted in July of multiple gang-related shootings that killed two in 2010.
Robert Carter pled guilty Wednesday to killing Angel Morse, his 13-year-old daughter, in 2010. Prosecutors were preparing for a Nov. 5 trial in the case. Carter had previously been pursuing an insanity defense.
Police have identified the man shot and killed by a police officer today as 28-year-old Justin Lionel Turner.
According to MPD, officers were called to a home on 17th Street Northeast between Newton and Monroe Streets by Turner’s grandfather. After they arrived, Turner allegedly tried to stab an officer from behind, and the officer turned and shot him.
In an interview with WTOP, MPD Chief Cathy Lanier said the officer suffered “multiple lacerations to his head, neck and hand.” She described the injuries “not life-threatening, but pretty serious.”
The full statement from MPD is below: Read more
A Metropolitan Police Department officer shot and killed 28-year-old Justin Lionel Turner Friday morning after being stabbed, according to news reports.
Officers were reportedly called to the house on 17th Street Northeast between Newton and Monroe Streets at about 6:45 a.m. to break up a fight between Turner and his grandfather. When they arrived, Turner attacked one officer from behind and stabbed him, according to police. Read more
