Homicide Watch D.C.

Judge Lynn Leibovitz ruled Friday that there is substantial probability that William Faison committed first-degree murder when Jeffrey Covington was shot during a robbery attempt on a craps game. In making the ruling, she rejected defense claims that Faison was not the person responsible for the shooting and that, if he were, it would have been in self-defense.

Leibovitz ordered Faison held on the charge at least until a status hearing in the case on Dec. 15.

In court Friday, Homicide Detective Robert Arrington testified that Faison had been identified by witnesses as being present outside of building 605 at 46th Place, SE on July 2, and also on the surveillance footage obtained from the building.

He also said that Faison was later found in an apartment in building 605. In that same apartment, the .38 caliber revolver used to shoot Covington was found underneath the refrigerator.

Quillan questioned the validity of the identifications made by witnesses, based partly on the testimony given by one witness, who had identified the shooter as Maurice Roots, a man who was incarcerated the day of the shooting.
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Acknowledging that the murder case against a Columbia Heights YouTube rapper known as “Goo” was “complicated,” Judge Ronna Beck today still found probable cause that that man, Marc Tapp, was involved in the shooting that left a teen dead last spring.

Beck said she made her decision based on evidence that included cell phone records, an identification of Tapp by a witness, and a false alibi Tapp gave police for the night of the shooting.

Tapp is suspected of killing 19-year-old Jermaine Anderson at “Ivy City Day” in May.

At the preliminary hearing Friday, prosecutor Jennifer Kerkhof called the crime scene “chaotic.”
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Each Friday, Homicide Watch brings you a tickler 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 calendar, email homicidewatchdc [at] gmail.com.

Please remember that court dates can change, even at the last minute. To view the docket of a case please go to the D.C. Courts website and search by the defendant’s name.

On Monday Keith Wade is expected for a status hearing in a first-degree murder case by Judge Lynn Leibovitz. He’s charged in the shooting death of Keith Neal which took place in January 2010.

On Tuesday Jeremy Risper and Kwan Kearney are expected to be arraigned on first-degree murder and weapons charges in connection with the shooting death of 19-year-old Jamal Wilson. They are expected before Judge Thomas Motley.
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Prosecutors expect the Grand Jury to indict a Southeast D.C. man on Tuesday for the death of his fiance at their home in March.

Ronald Pickett was in court Friday for a status hearing when AUSA Charles Cobb told the court that he expects a second-degree murder while armed indictment on Tuesday.

Judge Gerald Fisher scheduled Pickett’s arraignment on the charge for Thursday.

Pickett is suspected is killing Vanessa McGee in a shooting. In a preliminary hearing, Detective Carter Adams said Pickett said the night of the shooting, he and McGee were arguing and he had decided to stay the night elsewhere. While packing his belongings he picked up a gun and accidentally fired it when he was pushed or he tripped. The bullet struck McGee in the shoulder, killing her, authorities said.
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The detectives had left, but videotapes and audiotapes were still rolling. And so when the two teens suspected in the shooting death of Osman Al-Akbar on Wednesday started yelling to each other through the wall dividing their interrogation rooms, MPD caught the whole conversation.

“A nigga ain’t gonna beat it, somebody gotta cop,” yelled out the 15-year-old.
“Cop to that junt,” yelled back 19-year-old Rashid Caviness-Bey, encouraging the younger suspect to take the full weight of the murder.

That conversation was reported in court documents made public today, just as Caviness-Bey and the 15-year-old were in court on charges of second-degree murder while armed.
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Judge Gerald Fisher ordered the release of 25-year-old Dominique Bassil from custody today, saying that if the court’s high intensity supervision and mental health experts agreed, Bassil could live with her mother while awaiting trial.

Bassil is suspected of killing her boyfriend, Vance Harris, last weekend in their Southeast D.C. apartment. Prosecutors had sought a charge of second-degree murder in the case, but Fisher declined to find probable cause for the charge, saying that enough evidence that Bassil had acted in self-defense had been raised. Fisher instead found probable cause for the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter.

Charging documents in the case allege that Bassil stabbed Harris during an argument. He died that same day after bleeding out of a wound to a major artery in his leg.
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Two teenagers have been arrested in connection with the shooting death of Osman Al-Akbar in Columbia Heights early Wednesday morning.

MPD said in a press release that Al-Akbar was shot and killed in the 2600 block of University Place, N.W sometime before 1:39 a.m. Wednesday.

Two suspects were stopped by officers shortly after the shooting. They were identified Wednesday evening as 19-year-old Rashid Caviness-Bey and a 15-year-old male of Capitol Heights. They were arrested on suspicion of first-degree felony murder while armed and carrying a pistol without a license. MPD did not identify the 15-year-old, who is a juvenile.

MPD’s release is after the jump.
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Albrecht Muth will be held at D.C. Jail at least until a preliminary hearing is held in his case on Sept. 2.

Muth, 47, is accused of killing his wife, 91-year-old Viola Drath in their Georgetown townhouse late Thursday night or early Friday morning.

Muth appeared in court Wednesday to be presented with the charge of second-degree murder. He’s represented by attorney Dana Page.

Muth has denied killing his wife, according to charging documents in the case.

Those documents also say that Drath died of strangulation and blunt force injuries sustained sometime between 11:21 p.m. Thursday and approximately 8 am. Friday. An autopsy conducted Saturday found abrasions on her neck and scalp, fractured neck cartilage and bruising, and fractured ribs, among other injuries.

The case has received intense coverage in D.C. and sparked speculative conversations online.

A selection of Tweets and Facebook posts about the case and coverage is after the jump.
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MPD is seeking information about a woman found stabbed to death outside the Old Pose Office Pavilion in downtown D.C. last week.

In an informational reward poster, the woman is identified as a “Jane Doe,” but says she is also known as “Eman Mohammed.”

Homicide Watch has a call in to MPD seeking more information on the woman’s identity.

In the meantime, take a look at this poster. If you have any information, call the detectives listed.

It was a “marriage of convinience,” Albrecht Muth told homicide investigators the day after his wife, Viola Drath, was found dead. Unemployed, he had been married to Drath for more than twenty years, during which time she paid him an allowance. An allowance, that Muth told investigators, had recently been reduced.

Muth, 47, is expected to be formally presented with a charge of second-degree murder this afternoon in connection with Drath’s death. According to court records, he is also known as “Count Albi.”

Muth has denied killing his wife, according to charging documents in the case.

Those documents also say that Drath died of strangulation and blunt force injuries sustained sometime between 11:21 p.m. Thursday and approximately 8 am. Friday. An autopsy conducted Saturday found abrasions on her neck and scalp, fractured neck cartilage and bruising, and fractured ribs, among other injuries.

Her body was found on the bathroom floor of the Georgetown townhouse she and Muth shared.

Muth emailed an obituary for Drath to the Washington Post Friday, saying that she had died from head injuries sustained in a fall.

In charging documents, Muth appeared preoccupied with evidence detectives were collecting in the case, and grew alarmed when crime scene technicians, visiting him to collect DNA evidence, pointed out that Muth had scratches on his face. While detectives said the wounds were consistent with defensive wounds, Muth said he had walked into a door.

When asked if Drath could have had an accident which caused her death, Muth told authorities,”It wasn’t an accident.”
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