Two men accused in the murder of Latisha Frazier will be tried separately, after Judge William Jackson agreed to sever their cases yesterday.
Johnnie Sweets and Brian Gaither are charged with first-degree murder in connection with Frazier’s death. They are also charged with felony murder and “aggravating circumstances.” Those circumstances are that Frazier’s death was “especially heinous, atrocious, and cruel” and that it was also “committed during the course of a kidnapping.”
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Each Friday, 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.
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Donzell Butler was ordered held Thursday at his preliminary hearing after Judge William Jackson found probable cause that he committed second-degree murder in the stabbing death of Charles Scott.
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UPDATE: MPD has identified the suspect in this case as 30 year-old Johnathan Frederick Dawkins of Southeast DC. Dawkins was arrested Thursday on suspicion of second-degree murder while armed, MPD said.
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Police are expected to announce this afternoon that they have made an arrest in connection with the stabbing death of Dwayne Edward Brisbon.
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Reynard Cook was not present at was to be his arraignment Thursday at DC Superior Court on charges related to the shooting death of his girlfriend.
Cook, 28, was indicted by the grand jury in June.
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Anthony Speight pled innocent to eight charges included first-degree murder while armed on Thursday for the shooting death of Bill Mitchell.
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As jurors heard the final arguments in the case against him today, Keith Littlepage sat quietly at the defense table dressed in a pale lavender shirt and blue tie, showing no emotion even as prosecutors projected a photo above him of his fiance’s lifeless body.
The photo of Selina Knight, splayed dead across a black couch, had been shown again and again over the week-long trial, as had photographs of graffiti scrawled across a wall in Knight’s apartment. “HIV,” “bitch,” and “AIDS,” the grafiti read.
Prosecutor Robert Feitel said those words were Littlepage’s calling card, echoing threats Littlepage had made to Knight in the weeks before her murder, as well as Littlepage’s own words to a crisis counselor at Sibley Hospital after Knight’s death.
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Eric Payne was ordered held on Wednesday after Judge Robert Morin found substantial probability that Payne aided in the murder of Charles Hicks.
Due to scheduling conflicts no witness was called to testify and Morin relied on witness testimonies, affidavits, and the transcript of co-defendant Terrance McNeal’s preliminary hearing when making his decision.
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A man police have charged with first-degree murder was shot by the victim in 2003 and may have provided information to police about that shooting.
That’s according to charging documents presented to Anthony Campbell on Saturday. Prosecutors say that in Aug. 2011, Campbell shot Antwain Henderson, then towed Henderson’s body in his car to PG County and burned it.
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In brief:
Three separate incidents left three men dead and three others injured across three quadrants of DC last Saturday night, making it the deadliest week in the District this year. The victims were identified as Charles Anthony Scott Jr, Michael Edward Jones and Davon Brown. Donzell Butler was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of second-degree murder in connection with Scott’s death. On Wednesday, Joseph Peoples was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder in connection with Jones’ death and Jashua Johnson was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder in connection with Brown’s death.
Calvin Shaw was arrested in connection with a Fourth of July shooting that killed 19-year-old Crevantai Key and injured three others. Charging documents in the case allege that the shooting was gang related.
The Asian American Bar Association of DC has launched a fundraising effort to benefit the family of June Lim, killed outside her H Street deli last month.
Jurors charged with determining whether Keith Littlepage killed his girlfriend, Selina Knight, heard the first evidence in the case Thursday. Jurors were sworn in Wednesday by Judge Thomas Motley. Littlepage, 50, is suspected of fatally stabbing Knight at the Southeast DC home that they shared but she was trying to leave. He is charged with first degree murder while armed, kidnapping, and burglary, among other charges associated with the case, and has pled innocent.
Judge William Jackson found substantial probability that Jamar George committed first-degree murder while armed in the May 26 shooting death of Ronnie Speight. George was ordered held on the charge while the grand jury investigates.
Tarkeyshia Brown pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder in connection with the stabbing death of Jawan Parker. Prosecutors said Brown was upset because she thought Parker owed her $10 for a “dipper” of PCP.
Jonathan Fullard pleaded innocent to a charge of felony murder; he is suspected of killing his girlfriend’s 20-month-old son. He was indicted on the charge before a preliminary hearing could be held. A preliminary hearing on a separate charge of child cruelty is still pending.
Zachary Sims, 19, was sentenced to 30 months in prison on charges that he did have a weapon the night a DC teen was killed, even though he didn’t fire a shot. He was acquitted of murder and assault charges related to the same case in May, after a DC jury found that there was not sufficient evidence to believe that Sims killed 16-year-old Jamal Bell following a graduation party in June 2010.
A second mental health evaluation of Michael Davis, the 19-year-old brother of NFL stars Vernon and Vontae Davis, found that he remains mentally unfit to participate in the murder proceedings against him. He’s suspected in a series of hammer attacks in Petworth, including one that killed Gary Dederichs.
Marcus Mclean was sentenced Friday to 24 years in prison for the stabbing death of Delando King. Mclean pled guilty in April to one count second-degree murder while armed.
Judge William Jackson found substantial probability in the case against Grant Johnson, suspected in the fatal shooting of Ricardo Mandrell Lancaster.
Anthony Campbell, a Northeast DC man, was arrested Friday on suspicion of first-degree murder in connection with the Aug. 2011 shooting death of Antwain Henderson. Campbell is the second man arrested in connection with Henderson’s death; Sean Donnelle Hawkins was arrested in June on suspicion of second-degree murder in connection with the case.
