This comment of the day comes from Lowell, who wrote in about Sonya Lynch.
Sonya worked in my condo as a security guard. I had known her for 5 years and we were informed that she passed away. What I didn’t know was that she was a victim of a violent crime. Please if anyone has any information, go to the DC police. We will miss Sonya very much and pray for her family.
In brief:
Following are scheduled court appearances for murder cases. This information is current as of Friday, May 20 at 3 p.m. and will be re-verified throughout the week. 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.
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Phillip Crooms appeared in court Friday to hear charges against him. He was arrested yesterday on suspicion of first-degree murder in connection with the death of Delonte Butler in September 2010.
He was ordered held without bond in the case and is next due in court June 13.
Charging documents in the case after the jump.
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In a northeast DC parking lot on Tuesday, prosecutors believe Glenn Bailey, in the heat of an argument, told a woman to “get her boyfriend.”
She said she could “do it herself,” and the two exchanged blows in the Edgewood parking lot. Bailey was killed when a man pushed the woman aside, and stabbed Bailey at least four times, breaking one of his ribs and puncturing his lung, according to charging documents in the case.
Bailey died less than a half hour later.
Two witnesses identified Damien Pannell, a 30-year-old man who has no fixed address according to MPD, as the man responsible for the stabbing. A third witness, who did not know any of the people involved in the fight, did not pick Pannell out of a photo lineup.
Pannell, whose name is spelled in jail records as “Pannel,” is due in court June 24 for a preliminary hearing.
Charging documents are after the jump.
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A funeral service for Ervin Lamont Griffin, who was shot and killed last Friday, is planned for 1 p.m. Saturday at Weston Chapel AME Church (Mt. Pisgah AME Church) in Greenwood, S.C., according to his obituary.
The Washington Times and the Washington Examiner have follow-up articles on the revelation earlier this week that the D.C. medical examiner’s office lost its national accreditation. The original story in the Washington Examiner said that the lack of accreditation could make the prosecution of homicide and other criminal cases more difficult.
The Examiner said that D.C. Gov. Vincent Gray is working to get the medical examiner’s accreditation back. Meanwhile, the Times’ article said that while the D.C. medical examiner’s office is “at a loss” to explain why its accreditation was not renewed, the National Association of Medical Examiners said it removed Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Marie Pierre-Louis from its list because she “is not board-certified in pathology and has been out of training too long to go back and obtain the certification.”
The Times also explained what impact the accreditation loss will have on criminal cases:
Mr. Mendelson, at-large Democrat, said defense attorneys may use the lack of accreditation in court as leverage, but “that only goes so far,” he said.
“Do you win because you’re board-certified? Probably not. Do we lose a case because we’re not? Probably not,” he added. “But would the prosecutor rather say we’re accredited? Yes.”
Thomas P. Mauriello, a lecturer on criminology at the University of Maryland, College Park, said a defense attorney may attack the credentials of a chief medical examiner even if he or she didn’t work on the case, “as long as it confuses the jury enough.”
“Losing any accreditation allows the defense to question anything that comes out of the office,” he said. “It doesn’t mean the office isn’t doing good work. It is about a professional standard that has not been met.”
Phillip Crooms was arrested today on first-degree murder charges in connection with the homicide of Delonte Butler in September 2010, according to MPD.
Butler, 29, was found by District officers on Sept. 25 in a car that was on fire. He was pronounced dead at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, whose subsequent investigation found that Butler was suffering from an apparent gunshot wound.
Crooms, 28, of Southeast is the second person to be arrested on first-degree murder charges in connection with Butler’s death. The first was Joseph Spinks, who was arrested in September.
MPD’s press release is after the jump.
MPD’s Fifth District Commander Andy Solberg said today that Glenn M. Bailey‘s stabbing death this week was “not a random event.”
Damien Pannell was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder in the case Wednesday morning. He was presented with the charge Thursday and is expected in court June 24.
U.S. Marshals are searching for a 19-year-old man who is accused of killing a teenager and leaving his body inside a District apartment, according to the Washington Examiner.
Kendrick Phillips was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in September in connection with the December 2009 shooting death of Deonte Payton, who was 16. Payton’s body was left in the apartment for up to 10 days, according to court records.
The Washington Examiner reports that Phillips is on the run after being released to await trial:
At Phillips’ bond hearing, D.C. Superior Court Judge Gerald I. Fisher, substituting for trial Judge Lynn Leibovitz, released Phillips and ordered him to wear an ankle-monitoring bracelet while he awaited trial.
On April 13, the District’s pre-trial services agency received an electronic alert that the bracelet had been tampered with overnight, authorities said. Leibovitz called for an emergency hearing and issued a warrant for Payton’s arrest. He hasn’t been spotted since.
U.S. Marshals Service deputies believe Phillips is still in possession of the firearm used to kill Deonte, and he should be considered armed and dangerous.
Phillips, who is also known as Ken-Ken, is described as being about 5-feet-7 and 130 pounds.
The Exainer said anyone with information regarding Phillips’ location should call U.S. Marshals Inspector Bob Hoffmaster at 202-345-7036, or the Marshals Service at 301-489-1717 or 800-336-0102.
