Washington’s Other Monuments has photos of street memorials and crime scenes left in the wake of recent homicides.
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Jury Deliberations Continue in Rickey Pharr Murder Case
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.
AP: Albrecht Muth Case Twists and Turns Have “Veered it Off-Course”
Fox5 and WJLA are both running an extensive AP story backgrounding Albrecht Muth and Viola Drath.
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Dix Street Murder Case is “Huge Embarrassment to the Government,” Rickey Pharr’s Defense Attorney Says
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.
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Week in Review
In brief:
Charging documents in the case against Reginald Green state that his fight with Alfonza Flythe began in the cafeteria of a New York Avenue homeless shelter and that Flythe may have thrown a punch at Green. Green is accused of fatally stabbing Flythe during the fight.
The trial of five men charged in the South Capitol Street shooting that killed five young people and injured nine more began this week. Homicide Watch D.C. has a roundup of local coverage of the case.
The trial of Rickey Pharr, charged with fatally shooting Angelo Jones over a rumor that Jones was a police informant, was underway this week. The trial has been delayed several times by legal arguments. Witnesses in the case have told the court that they have been afraid to testify in the case; one woman said that after she testified to the grand jury, her mother told the neighborhood that she was a “snitch.”
Wayne A. Jackson, a 22-year-old Capitol Heights Md. man, was arrested on suspicion of felony murder in connection with the stabbing death of Kevin Blackwell Jr. He is the third suspect to be arrested in the case.
Katrell Henry, 37, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the shooting death of Laroy Bryant. He was convicted in November of voluntary manslaughter while armed in the case.
Francisco Orlando Rivas, a 19-year-old from Hyattsville, Md., was killed in a shooting in Northeast DC Thursday evening. A vigil was held at the scene of the shooting Friday night.
Fox5 reported on the case of a Maryland man who lost his job after MPD detectives told his boss that he was a suspect in the Heritage India murder case. The man has been cleared, but did not get his job back.
A grand jury investigation into Karl Pugh‘s role in the shooting death of Quentin Joavor Ragland is complete and a formal charge in the case is expected this week.
Friday Night Vigil for Francisco “Franky” Rivas
A vigil was held Friday night for Francisco “Franky” Rivas, a 19-year-old Maryland man who was fatally shot in Northeast DC Thursday evening.
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Weekend Reads: MPD Chief Cathy Lanier Responds to Crime Stats Story
MPD Chief Cathy Lanier responded in an editorial today to the Post’s report about how MPD calculates— and advertises— its annual homicide closure rate.
Wrote Lanier:
On Feb. 19, The Post published a front-page article headlined “The trick to D.C.’s homicide closure rate,” suggesting that the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) was somehow tricking the public by announcing that it had a 94 percent homicide closure rate. To support its slanted claims, the article used misleading and inflammatory quotes from ill-informed sources. Furthermore, the writer left out information supplied by my department that would have invalidated the assertions contained in the story.
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South Capitol Links Roundup: “It was loud, like a war was going on.”
During the South Capitol murder trial, Homicide Watch will publish regular links roundups of coverage. Today’s stories are:
From the Washington Post:
The mother of a District man whose 2010 slaying set off a series of shootings that left four others dead and nine injured broke down in tears in D.C. Superior Court as she described hearing a hail of gunshots and seeing her dying son slumped over in the driver’s seat of a car.
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“We live now to die later”
Francisco “Franky” Rivas, killed Thursday evening in Northeast DC, was a young father and High Point High School Class of 2010 alumnus, according to his Facebook profile and memories posted by his friends today.
Some of those memories are gathered after the jump. Leave your own messages and memories in the comments section below, Tweet them to @homicidewatch to be included in the post, or post them under “memorials” here.
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Grand Jury Investigation of Karl Pugh Complete, Prosecutor Says
A grand jury investigation into Karl Pugh‘s role in the shooting death of Quentin Joavor Ragland is complete and a formal charge in the case is expected next week, a prosecutor assigned to the case said Friday.
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