Community Impact Statement against Shaw Heroin Dealer

Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 6E/Shaw voted unanimously February 3 to send a community impact statement in the case of Thomas Butler, who has pleaded guilty to charges including possession with both intent to distribute a controlled substance while armed as well as unlawful possession of a firearm.

Photo of DC Superior Court from its web site

The motion to send a community impact statement was made by Commissioner
Frank Wiggins (district 03). Wiggins said, at the time of his arrest, Butler had been carrying heroin, $10,000 in a bag, and more than one million dollars on his person. At the same time, Butler was in violation of a 2013 court order (resulting from an arrest for possession of a controlled substance) to stay away from the 1300 block of 5th Street in Shaw.

On January 13, Butler pleaded guilty to three felony counts, including those listed above. In return, two other felony counts will be dropped, as will two misdemeanor charges resulting from the 2013 arrest.

Butler will be sentenced by Associate Judge Juliet J. McKenna of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia on March 6.

ANCs can file community impact statements detailing the negative effects of a criminal's activity in the community, in hope of getting a stiffer sentence. An example of a 2012 letter written by ANC6E against a convicted drug dealer is available here. 

The office of the US Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia has an explanation of community impact statements half-way down this page.

See the record of the felony case against Butler by going to the DC Superior Court's search tool here and entering case number 2014 CF2 017465 in the search bar on the upper right of the page. The to-be-dismissed misdemeanor charges from an earlier incident can be seen through the same search tool by entering case number 2013 CMD 18687.