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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WaPo: DC Council Needs to Examine 911 Operations
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.
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Death of Abandoned Infant Ruled Homicide, WTOP Reports
WTOP’s Mark Segraves reports that the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has ruled that the death of a baby girl found abandoned and barely alive on a Northeast DC doorstep has been ruled a homicide.
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“Surreal” 911 Call of Angelo Jones’ Murder Prompts Tough Questions for Emergency System Director
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.
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Raymond Faunteroy to Seek Private Attorney for Murder Charge Defense
The preliminary hearing for Raymond Faunteroy was postponed today at the request of his attorney.
Faunteroy, 26, is suspected in the murder of 19-year-old Derrick Ragland in Northeast D.C. last December. Faunteroy was presented with the charge of first-degree murder on March 21.
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Mark Pray, Alonzo Marlow, Kenneth Benbow, Found Guilty of Murder, Federal Racketeering
Mark Pray and Alonzo Marlow were found guilty today of the killing of two people: Crystal Washington in April 2009 and Jheryl Hodge in January 2010. Washington was killed a day before she was scheduled to testify for the government in a murder case.
Pray and Kenneth Benbow were also found guilty of the 2008 murder of Van Johnson Jr.
A press release from the US Attorney’s Office is after the jump.
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Fewer Homicides, Younger Victims in First Quarter of 2012
In the first quarter of 2012, 18 homicides were reported in DC, four fewer than the number reported in the same time period last year. That represents an 18 percent drop in the number of reported homicides year-to-date.
It is a small statistical sample, certainly, but law enforcement officials, attorneys, and others who watch homicide rates have remarked frequently over the past several weeks about the dip.
The 18 homicides this year, as counted by MPD, include the death of Leroy Studevant, who was found dead in Marvin Gaye Park on Dec. 31, 2011. A review of this year’s homicides also shows that slightly younger people have been affected more than last year: In 2011 the deadliest ages were 20 and 22; so far in 2012, the deadliest ages have been 19 and 21. Two children, Keyontae Osbia Moore, aged 20 months, and Kuron Rashad Hunt, who died after delivery, are also among this year’s victims. In 2011 the youngest homicide victim was 15 years old.
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Curtis McKnight, Robert Pumphrey Jr. Found Guilty in 2007 NE DC Homicide
From the US Attorney’s Office:
Two Men Convicted of Murder, Other Charges In 2007 Slaying in Northeast Washington - Victim Was Shot Six Times in Early-Morning Confrontation -
WASHINGTON - Curtis L. McKnight and Robert H. Pumphrey, Jr., both 23 and both of Washington, D.C., have been convicted of murder and other charges in the 2007 slaying of a man in Northeast Washington, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced today.
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Week in Review
In brief:
A mistrial was declared a mistrial in the case against Raymond Roseboro, after the jury notified the court for the third time that they were deadlocked. Roseboro, 21, was charged with first-degree murder while armed in the shooting death of 16-year-old Prince Okorie. A comment left by Anonguest said:
I believe Mr. Roseboro committed the crime and lied to the jury when he took the stand but I can understand why the jury did not convict. No impartial witness could identify Mr. Roseboro as the shooter. There was no physical evidence linking him to the crime. The bottom line was did the jury believe the two men who were allegedly with Mr. Roseboro and the victim.
James Fields, suspected in the shooting death of Christopher Freeman in Southeast DC on August 5, pled innocent to the charges against him.
Nineteen-year-old Kevin Bolden died after being shot by MPD officers responding to a call in Southeast DC for a drug complaint. MPD says Bolden brandished a gun at officers and fired before MPD fired at him.
A Temple Hills, Md. man has been arrested in connection with a 2005 shooting in Northeast DC, MPD said. James Presley Harris, 31, died in that shooting. Jamel Callis, 26, is suspected of first degree murder while armed, MPD said.
A 911 call made by a witness to Angelo Jones’ shooting death in Clay Terrace in Oct. 2010 raises questions about whether the shooting could have been prevented.
The recording, made public by Homicide Watch DC as part of our comprehensive coverage of Rickey Pharr’s trial, lasts eight minutes; in the first five minutes of the call a total of six locations or landmarks were given by the caller to the 911 operator, all within about a square mile of each other in Northeast DC. Then, as the operator continued to struggle to enter an address in for dispatch, the gunshots that killed Jones rang out.
Community leaders and some in law enforcement say that had the call been handled differently that the shooting could have been prevented.
DC Councilman Phil Mendelson, chairs the Committee on the Judiciary which oversees the city’s 911 system. has promised a review of the call.
Listen to the audio below.
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DC Councilman Promises Review of 911 Tape of Angelo Jones Shooting
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.
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