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Justice News

District Man Pleads Guilty to Second-Degree Murder Of Man During Noontime Robbery in Northeast Washington

Two Accomplices Plead Guilty to Taking Part in Robbery

WASHINGTON – Tavon Pinkney, 20, William Bass, 18, and Kalif Brown, 22, all of Washington, D.C., pled guilty today to charges stemming from the shooting death of a man last year in Northeast Washington, U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips announced.

Pinkney pled guilty in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia to a charge of second-degree murder while armed. The plea, which is contingent on the Court’s approval, calls for a sentence of 17 years in prison. Bass pled guilty to assault with intent to rob while armed. His plea, which also is contingent on the Court’s approval, calls for a sentence consistent with the District of Columbia Voluntary Sentencing Guidelines. Finally, Brown pled guilty to robbery. His plea, also contingent on the Court’s approval, calls for five years in prison.

All three defendants will be sentenced by the Honorable Robert E. Morin on July 8, 2016.

According to the government’s evidence, just before noon on February 16, 2015, the defendants were driven to the 300 block of 61st Street NE for purposes of conducting a PCP transaction with the victim, Rico Myers, 25, and his friend. Once there, the defendants entered an alley and Pinkney pulled a gun, demanding the victim’s possessions.

Bass began going through Mr. Myers’s pockets, while Brown robbed Mr. Myers’s friend. Mr. Myers began struggling to defend himself and Pinkney then shot him four times. The defendants ran to the waiting car on 61st Street NE, which then drove off.

Mr. Myers ran out of the alley and collapsed on a sidewalk in the 300 block of 61st Street NE. He was taken to a hospital, where all efforts to save his life were unsuccessful. An autopsy performed by the Maryland Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined the cause of death to be multiple gunshot wounds and the manner of death to be homicide.

In announcing the guilty pleas, U.S. Attorney Phillips commended the work of the detectives of the Criminal Investigations Division, Homicide Branch, crime scene officers, and the Sixth Police District of the Metropolitan Police Department, as well as Special Agent Benjamin Inman of the FBI’s Cellular Analysis Survey Team. He also expressed appreciation for the work of the D.C. Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services and the Maryland Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. He acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Victim/Witness Advocate Diana Lim, Victim/Witness Security Specialist M. Laverne Forrest, and Paralegal Specialist Lashone Samuels. Finally, he praised the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Spence, who investigated and prosecuted the case.