A first degree murder trial for Rickey Pharr is underway, despite continuing disagreements between the government and Pharr’s defense attorney over evidence and witnesses.
The trial, which was scheduled to begin last Monday, has been marked by fits and starts. Before jury selection last week, Pharr’s case was severed from that of his co-defendant, Curtis Patterson. Other motions further delayed the case. A jury was seated Thursday afternoon and opening arguments were heard then.
Read more
The jury charged with determining the guilt and innocence of five D.C. men charged in a series of shootings known as the “South Capitol Street Massacre” heard opening statements today, the first day of presentations.
The defendants: Orlando Carter, 22; Sanquan, 21; Jeffrey D. Best, 23; Robert Bost, 23; and Lamar Williams, 23, are charged with participating in shootings that killed five young people and injured nine more.
Read more
The trial for two men accused of killing 29-year-old Darrel Hendy has been postponed by several weeks after one of the mens’ defense attorneys was scheduled for emergency surgery.
Chamontae Walker and Corey Yates were due to stand trial today. Instead Judge Thomas Motley plans on holding the trial March 19 or April 9, depending on the attorneys’ healths.
A stabbing that left a man dead on New York Avenue NE Friday morning began with an argument inside the cafeteria of a nearby homeless shelter.
That’s according to court documents filed in the case over the weekend.
According to the documents, witnesses told police that Reginald Green and Alfonza Flythe fought, shoving each other, mid-morning Friday in the cafeteria.
Read more
The Washington Post advances a story first reported by Homicide Watch DC in December: The 94 percent case closure rate frequently cited by Police Chief Cathy Lanier, Mayor Vincent Gray and others hides more complicated arithmetic.
The closure rate she presents for the District is 154 percent higher than Boston’s and at least 104 percent higher than Baltimore’s, and it gives residents reason to believe that D.C. police have been remarkably successful at solving homicide cases under her watch.
But an examination of District homicides found that the department’s closure rate is a statistical mishmash that makes things seem much better than they are. The District had 108 homicides last year, police records show. A 94 percent closure rate would mean that detectives solved 102 of them. But only 62 were solved as of year’s end, for a true closure rate of 57 percent, according to records reviewed by The Post.
In brief:
Lamar Marquel Walker, a 21-year-old Southeast DC man, was killed in a shooting on Call Place SE early Tuesday morning.
Lewis Dixon was shot and killed in the 1300 block of Saratoga Avenue, NE at about 5 p.m. Wednesday night.
Alfonza Flythe, 35, was fatally stabbed Friday morning on New York Avenue NE; 25-year-old Reginald Edward Green, 25, was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder while armed in connection with the case.
Brandon Terry was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder while armed in connection with the shooting death Jhonte Coleman, which took place following an event at Heritage India in Dupont Circle.
Documents charging Gary Montgomery with fatally stabbing JaParker Deoni Jones leave open the possibility that Jones could have been the subject of a robbery attempt and outline the way people in the community helped MPD close the case.
A 20-year-old homicide case has been closed after two witnesses to the shooting death of Chet Hunter Matthews agreed to share details of the killing with police.
Terrance McNeal pleaded innocent to a charge of first-degree murder while armed in the stabbing death of Charles Hicks.
Marvin Palencia pleaded innocent to fatally shooting Jacobo Vazquez, his former co-worker who had been romantically involved with Palencia’s wife.
Lawrence Davis was sentenced to 45 years in prison for the stabbing death of his wife, Elizabeth Singleton almost 13 years ago.
Tarkeyshia Brown waived her right to a preliminary hearing in order to gain more time to consider a plea offer made by the government. She is suspected of first-degree murder while armed in the October 2011 stabbing death of Jawan Parker.
Judge Thomas Motley imposed the maximum penalties possible under sentencing guidelines on Kevin Clark and Donald Crosland, both of whom pleaded guilty to killing teen Ricardo Minger in a Southeast DC apartment in January 2011.
This month’s Washingtonian includes a feature story about Homicide Watch D.C. You can pick it up on newsstands or read it online. Writes Harry Jaffe:
The murder rate in DC has been on a downward trend since 1991, when it peaked at 479, according to police statistics. By 2001, homicides had dropped to 232. In 2011, homicides fell to 108.
Read more
UPDATE Friday, 10:47 p.m: MPD has identified the victim in this case as 35-year-old Alfonza Flythe of Northeast, DC.
A man fatally stabbed Friday morning on New York Avenue Northeast has not been identified, but MPD says that 25-year-old Reginald Edward Green has been arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder while armed in connection with the case.
MPD’s press release is after the jump.
Read more
Judge Thomas Motley this afternoon imposed the maximum penalties possible under sentencing guidelines on Kevin Clark and Donald Crosland, both of whom pleaded guilty to killing teen Ricardo Minger in a Southeast DC apartment in January 2011.
“Everybody makes mistakes,” Clark said at sentencing. “Sometimes you fall down and scrape your knee. Sometimes you bump your head. I’ll be sorry forever. I didn’t have a right to take a life ‘cause I never brought life into this world.”
Read more
A stabbing on New York Avenue Northeast left a man dead Friday morning, MPD reports.
Said Fifth District Commander Andy Solberg:
Today at about 10:45 am, a man was stabbed outside 1355 New York Avenue, NE.
Read more
