Each Friday, Homicide Watch brings you a tickler of which murder cases are coming up in the DC courts.This information is current as of Wednesday July 20. To add an item to the calendar, email homicidewatchdc [at] gmail.com.
On Homicide Watch’s calendar,
Anthony Anderson is due to be sentenced Friday after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter for the death of 48-year-old Tyrone Smith last June in Peworth. Anderson is expected in Judge William Jackson’s courtroom.
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Lovegirl wrote today about the “guilty” plea from Ebony Franklin‘s father, Rodney McIntyre. She wrote:
Finally I can rest. RIP EB. I know you are watching over me and Ryn.
Two young men were ordered to remain behind bars Friday afternoon after Judge Thomas Motley decided that there was enough evidence to believe that they killed 71-year-old Glenn Scarborough in his home last month by beating him, gagging him, tying him up, and choking him.
Defendants Phillip Swan and Terell Wilson appeared in court Thursday and Friday for two days of a contentious preliminary hearing. Their co-defendant in the case, Theodore Spencer, was present Thursday but did not appear Friday because of a scheduling conflict with his attorney. Spencer is due to appear in court Aug 8 to complete his portion of the preliminary hearing.
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Nathaniel Phillips was sentenced today to just over 11 years in prison for the stabbing death of Theresa Hungerford in June 2010.
A press release from the US Attorney’s Office is below.
District Man Sentenced to More Than 11 Years in Prison In Slaying That Followed a Dispute Over Drugs - Defendant Repeatedly Stabbed His Friend in Argument at Her Apartment -
WASHINGTON - Nathaniel Phillips, 37, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to a prison term of 11 years and three months for stabbing and killing a friend inside her apartment in Northeast Washington, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced.
Phillips pled guilty in April 2011 to voluntary manslaughter while armed. He was sentenced in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia by the Honorable Gerald I. Fisher.
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Nineteen-year-old Cinthya Proctor pleaded guilty this morning to participating in the killing of Latisha Frazier last August.
According to the details of the plea agreement, Proctor could be sentenced to life in prison.
Proctor is, at this time, the only defendant to plead guilty to the crime. Anneka Nelson, Johnnie Sweet, Brian Gaither and Laurence Hassan have also been arrested in connection with the case. Their cases are pending indictment at this time.
Appearing in court Friday morning, Proctor pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, kidnapping and conspiracy to tamper with evidence in the case.
According to government prosecutors, Proctor proffered that she joined others in beating Frazier because they believed Frazier had stolen $900 from Sweet.
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Rodney McIntyre pleaded guilty today to premeditated first-degree murder while armed in the death of his 17-year-old daughter, Ebony Franklin.
McIntyre appeared in front of Judge Lynn Leibovitz to make his plea today. Prosecutors have agreed to seek a term of 37 to 40 years for the 45-year-old defendant.
Franklin was found in a Columbia Heights trash can last November, prompting community outrage and concern that grew as the case lingered without an arrest for almost six months. Some of that concern came from McIntyre himself, who asked police, through the media, “what really happened with my daughter?”
Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 27.
Read the plea deal below and a press release from the USAO after the jump.
Thanks to Homicide Watch reader “Just_ME” who pointed out this headline progression from The Examiner.
What a difference a year makes.
June 2010 report from The Examiner on heat and crime correlation
July 2011 report from The Examiner on heat and crime correlation
Note: I originally missed that the first story is June 2010, assuming that they were less than a month apart. My mistake. The first story is June 2010, the second is July 2011. My apologies.
The Washington Examiner reports this morning on a criminologist’s connection between extremely hot weather and a decrease in homicides, tying the connection to a decrease in homicides this summer in the District.
Reports The Examiner:
During the record-breaking heat wave last weekend, there were no homicides in D.C. or Prince George’s County, the two jurisdictions that drive the capital region’s homicide rate. The last murder in the District was July 20. Prince George’s hasn’t had a homicide since July 13, a police department spokesman said.
“People say,’it’s too hot to kill, or I don’t have the energy to kill,” said Ellen G. Cohn, a professor at Florida International University who has examined connections between weather and crime for nearly 30 years. “It becomes more important to find a drink than exact revenge.”
MPD Chief Cathy Lanier told The Examiner that that wasn’t exactly true. She said it’s good policing that has made the decline possible.
“This is a sign of our success,” she said.
Interested in looking at how this year’s homicides stack up? Take a look at our spreadsheet, embedded below after the jump, and learn more about each crime by following the links to victim’s and suspect’s pages in the middle bar.
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Washington’s Other Monuments has photos of a street shrine built in memory of Myles LaShay McLean. See more photos here.
Street shrine in memory of Myles LaShay McLean
The man suspected of fatally shooting 36-year-old Ralph Thomas outside McKinley Tech High School in June has pleaded guilty to the charges against him and faces a minimum of 14 years incarceration.
According to charging documents, Oma Crawford, 25-year-old Maryland man, shot Thomas on June 3 after an argument about Thomas communicating with Crawford’s wife.
In pleading guilty to second-degree murder while armed in the case Friday, Crawford, an athlete with semi-pro football team the DC Falcons, proffered that he believed Thomas, a manager of the team, was having a sexual relationship with his wife.
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