Homicide Watch D.C.

From the US Attorney’s Office:

District Man Sentenced to 24-Year Prison Term In February 2009 Slaying of 14-Year-Old Boy

WASHINGTON - Ransom Perry Jr., who turned 21 today, was sentenced to 24 years in prison on charges stemming from the February 2009 slaying of a 14-year-old boy, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced.

Perry, of Washington, D.C., pled guilty in May 2011 to charges of second degree murder while armed and robbery. He was sentenced this morning by the Honorable Lynn Leibovitz in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.
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Each Friday, Homicide Watch brings you a tickler of which murder cases are coming up in the DC courts. Highlights this week are two preliminary hearings, one for Rodney McIntyre suspected of killing his daughter, Ebony Franklin, and one for Monquel Cook, suspected of killing Michael Milton Wilson. Also this week, Damon Sams, who pleaded guilty in the death of Ashely McRae, is due to be sentenced. Daquan Johnson is also scheduled for sentencing for the Feb. 2010 death of Carlos B. Alexander.

This information is current as of Thursday June 30 at five p.m. 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. To add an item to the calendar, email homicidewatchdc [at] gmail.com.

View the calendar tickler after the jump.
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Zachary Sims pleaded innocent today to the death of Jamal Bell, a 16-year-old killed by gunfire following a Go-Go themed graduation party last June.

Sims, who turned 18 on January 1, was indicted on nine charges associated with the case including one count of first-degree murder, two counts of assault with intent to kill, and various weapons charges.

The June 18, 2010 shooting also injured two people in addition to Bell.

Judge William Jackson set a trial date of April 23 for the case.

WaPo’s Avis Thomas-Lester today looks at the intersection at 13th Place and Congress Street SE, an intersection where 17 people have been killed in violent crime in the past decade.

Writes Thomas-Lester:

The two Southeast Washington women met in the 1970s as activists in their Anacostia neighborhoods. Their friendship grew as they pushed for better schools, programs for teenagers and more jobs. Together, they went into crack houses, coaxing addicts to return home to their families.

One woman, former D.C. Council member Sandy Allen, 67, turned to politics to help her community. The other, the Rev. Joyce Scott, 58, turned to faith.

Early on Jan. 2, tragedy brought them even closer. Scott’s grandson, Brian C. Scott, 21, was gunned down at 13th Place and Congress Street SE, becoming the city’s first homicide victim of 2011.

Five years earlier, Allen’s grandson, Jon Allen Jr., 15, was fatally shot on the same corner.

For the two grandmothers, the corner in the Congress Park neighborhood has become a shared reminder of personal loss. For the city, it is a grim symbol of the gun violence that has shattered so many families. Over the past decade, 17 people have been slain within a few yards of the intersection. The most recent was Ra-Heem Jackson, a 16-year-old basketball standout at H.D. Woodson High School who was shot April 7.

Six weeks ago, Scott forced herself to return to the corner. It was the first time she’d been back since Brian Scott was killed and another grandson, Tavon Bell, 21, was critically wounded.

With a microphone and a Bible, Scott brought out her church members, friends and as many residents as she could find for an anti-violence rally. They were there, she told the crowd, to “proclaim this street for peace.”

Sandy Allen was beside her.

“Sometimes you can save everybody else’s child but your own,” Scott said.

Read the whole story here.

Washington City Paper is reporting that Raymond Roseboro, the man suspected of killing Petworth teen Prince Okorie, was stabbed in jail and required hospitalization. He has since returned to jail.

Reports City Paper:

Raymond Roseboro was brutally stabbed five times last Friday in the D.C. Jail. His mother, Raylette Roseboro, says her son was “stabbed twice in the chest, once in the back, once in the shoulder and once in the forehead.”
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This comment of the day comes from “Hurt and Confused,” who wrote in about Terry Jimenez‘ arrest following the Caribbean Festival fatal shoot-out and his connection to Lucki Pannell‘s murder case.

There is much more to this story than the police are saying and I hope it’s for someone’s safety. I always said it was weird that there were other people there when Lucki was shot and the police didn’t catch anyone. Lucki’s passing is the single most devastating thing to happen to me in my entire life and I need some answers. Her family needs some answers and someone needs to be punished for it. I will never get over her death and even if they find out who did it, it wont bring her back. The disregard for human life in this city is just downright pathetic. It is really sad when young people dont care if they die or go to jail. She didnt deserve to die and if you didnt mean to shoot her, you need to come forward before you meet the same fate.

Nardyne Jeffries’ lawsuit on the South Capitol Street “massacre” that left her daughter, Brishell Jones, and three others dead is now available in the document viewer below.

The suit alleges that the shootings were the result of “gross negligence, racial discrimination and indifference” by multiple D.C. agencies and individuals including District government, MPD, DYRS, the Housing Authority and DC Public Schools.

A 21-year-old DC man was sentenced today to 88 years in prison after he was found guilty of killing Anthony Perkins in December 2009.

According to evidence presented at trial, Antwan Holcomb contacted Perkins on a gay chat line and arranged to meet him at his house. The arrangement was a ruse to rob Perkins.

After being found guilty of that killing, Holcomb pleaded guilty to additional assault and weapons charges from crimes which took place in December 2009 and January 2010.

Read the USAO’s press release after the jump.

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The US Attorney’s Office issued a press release this morning outlining their successes in murder and violent crimes prosecutions this year, the formation of a cold case homicide squad and community efforts to stop crimes from taking place.

In the release, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. cited the successful convictions of 20 murder cases in DC, including those of eight gang members.

Read the press release below.

U.S. Attorney Machen Outlines Anti-Violence Strategy, Combining Enforcement Efforts With Crime Prevention - Criminals Held Accountable as Office Builds Partnerships With Citizens -

WASHINGTON - U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. said today that the office’s antiviolence initiatives have led to the convictions of more than 20 people so far this year in homicide cases and another 175 defendants on weapons charges, as well as a deeper partnership with people in all parts of the city to join law enforcement in combating crime.

The convictions reflect one part of a comprehensive approach taken by the U.S. Attorney’s Office to combat and prevent crime in the District of Columbia. Under U.S. Attorney Machen’s leadership, the office has engaged the public in discussions about ways to prevent crime, organizing more than 100 community events this year alone, including a youth summit. The office also has hosted events for ex-offenders, including a workshop to help them find jobs.

“We have matched vigorous prosecutions with vigorous engagement within our community,” said U.S. Attorney Machen. “We are working more closely than ever with District of Columbia residents to address their concerns and to hold accountable the criminals that threaten their neighborhoods with violence. The steady clip of gun prosecutions this year illustrates our devotion to taking weapons and the felons who use them off of our city streets.”
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John Bolton was ordered help pending a preliminary hearing today at his first court appearance on a charge that he killed 41-year-old Christopher Fletcher following a Southeast DC cookout.

Bolton, 49, is a resident of Southeast DC. Fletcher lived in Fairmont Heights, Md.

According to charging documents in the case, a disagreement between the two men started with Bolton showed up at the cookout and, in the course of greeting people there, approached Fletcher and “kissed at him as if he was a female.” When Fletcher didn’t respond, Bolton pressed him saying something to the effect of “What’s wrong with you, and other time you be playing. What’s wrong with you? You in your feelings or something?” After that, Fletcher “then began to play with” Bolton.
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