Homicide Watch D.C.

Kwan Kearney was found guilty today of first-degree murder while armed in the shooting death of Joseph Alonzo Sharps Jr.

The verdict came at noon today; the jury deliberated for approximately four hours before finding Kearney guilty on each of the eight counts and the aggravating circumstance that the crime was random.

Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 10. The sentencing range on first-degree murder alone is 30 years to life. The other charges Kearney was found guilty of were: assault with intent to kill while armed, aggravated assault and four weapons charges.
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Judge Thomas Motley on Friday urged Keir Johnson and Marcellus Jackson to turn themselves in to authorities, telling a lawyer representing Jackson that the warrants are “not an invitation” and should be responded to with haste.

“These people need to turn themselves in,” Motley said.

Johnson and Jackson are among seven men named in an 80-count indictment that alleges murder, criminal street gang activity, conspiracy, and other crimes.

Prosecutor Todd Gee said that if found guilty of the charges, each of the seven men faces life in prison.
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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.

On Monday,
Terrell Brent is expected for a status hearing with Judge William Jackson. Brent is suspected of voluntary manslaughter while armed in the shooting death of Lugus Fleming during a rumored game of Russian Roulette.
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Two men named in yesterday’s 80-count gang indictment remain at large. The U.S. Marshals Service today released photos of Keir Johnson and Marcellus Jackson, part of a group believed to be responsible for shootings that left three dead and seven wounded in incidents going back to 2006.

Five other suspects named in the indictment are in custody on counts murder, drug and weapons charges.

MyFoxDC reports on reaction to the indictments, which police chief Cathy Lanier called an “important step forward in dismantling this ruthless gang and disrupting their reign of terror.”
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A jury of six men and six women are now deliberating in the case accusing Kwan Kearney of shooting at two Spingarn High School students, killing one of them.
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In a written statement to Homicide Watch, Councilman Jim Graham, said the indictment against seven alleged gang members believed to be responsible for three homicides in Northwest DC is a “huge breakthrough in breaking up one of the most violent gang wars in Ward One.”
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The US Attorney’s Office has charged seven DC men with a series of gang, weapons, drugs, and violent crimes reported to have taken place in Columbia Heights, Adams Morgan and the U Street corridor since 2006.

Among those crimes are three homicides, including that of Jamal Coates, who was killed while leaving a friend’s funeral in the U Street corridor last year.

The indictment, made public this week, alleges:

The defendants and their associates in G-Rod shared numerous common factors. They were residents of or otherwise associated with the turf and its environs. They were dedicated to reserving their turf to their exclusive use for criminal and or legitimate use and to avoid detection and successful prosecution by law enforcement. They were prepared to commit and did commit acts of intimidation, threats, violence, and obstruction of justice to exercise that control, avoid successful prosecution by law enforcement, and enhance the reputation of G-Rod for using intimidation, threats, and violence and thus facilitate G-Rod’s control of the turf.

Two of the suspects named in the indictment, Marcellus Jackson and Keir Johnson, remained at large Wednesday afternoon and are wanted by authorities, people close to the case told Homicide Watch.

Others are expected in court Friday for a status hearing with Judge Thomas Motley. At least two of the defendants are expected to be arraigned at the end of the month.
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After just two days of testimony, the Kwan Kearney murder case could go to the jury as early as Thursday afternoon, the Judge hearing the case said today.

Kearney, 20, is charged with shooting two Spingarn High School students in Nov. 2010. One of the students, De’Onte Bilbro, survived. The other, Joseph Alonzo Sharps Jr., was killed.
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In September, Army veteran Patrick Casey died after a fight outside a McDonald’s near Dupont Circle. His death was ruled a homicide, but after an initial flurry of attention, police said evidence showed Casey was likely the aggressor in the brawl.

Today, the U.S. Attorney’s office says it won’t press charges in the case, and police are calling it a “justifiable homicide by citizen,” the Washington Post reports.
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“9-1-1 it’s an emergency, please send a SWAT team with urgency,” Larnell Allen rapped from the witness stand at Kwan Kearney‘s trial Tuesday.

The words, a rough approximation of Gucci Mane’s popular song “911 Emergency,” had been sung by Allen before. Together on Nov. 8, 2010, he, Kearney and others sang them out, laughing, as they heard sirens responding to the Trinidad street where Joseph Alonzo Sharps Jr. and De’Onte Bilbro had just been shot. A shooting that Allen said he and Kearney both took part in.

“As soon as [Kearney] pulls the gun he fires,” Allen said of the run-in between Sharps, Bilbro, Kearney, a 14-year-old, and himself. “I withdrew my gun from my hip and I fired. It’s like backing him up. One fires, we all fire.”
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