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.

ANC2F to Make Statement on Drug Case

For the second time in six months, Roger Kemp, a community prosector at the US Attorney's office, has appeared before Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2F/Logan Circle. At ANC2F's regular monthly meeting, March 6, Kemp asked the ANC to write a community impact statement on a drug-dealing case to come up for sentencing in March.

ANC2F voted unanimously to author a community impact statement. Commissioner Peter Lallas (district 01) will write it. Lallas is the chair of ANC2F's Crime and Public Safety Committee.

Previous statement effective

Kemp previously asked the ANC to write a community impact statement at its meeting of November 6, 2013 -- see SALM blog post of November 8, 2013.

At the November 2013 meeting, Kemp asked ANC2F to weigh in with a community impact statement in the case of Jahlani Brown, who pled guilty to first-degree sexual abuse. In September 2013, Brown raped a woman who worked at an apartment building in Shaw.

Kemp reported he had received community impact statements on this case both from ANC2F and neighboring ANCs. The court noted the impact statements, Kemp said, and the judge "imposed a significant sentence."

"The sentence was higher than guidelines called for," Kemp said. "The victim was very happy."

"Community impact statements really do make a difference," said Assistant US Attorney Erin Lyons at the meeting.

U.S. vs Peoples, Long, and Green

Lyons and fellow Assistant US Attorney Kate Rakoczy asked the ANC to write a community impact statement on the cases of Antonio Peoples, Kevin Long, and Isaiah Green. They were arrested on drug-related and armed robbery charges as a result of a "long-term, in-depth drug investigation" in the summer of 2012. All three initially pleaded innocent but recently changed their pleas to guilty.

Peoples, Long, and Green were part of a "pretty large group of guys" who operated in the Lincoln Westmoreland Apartments, an affordable housing complex located on 7th and 8th Street NW between R and S Streets in Shaw. They will plead guilty to drug conspiracy charges, which may in this case carry stiffer charges because some of the activity took place in a designated drug-free zone near Grover Cleveland Elementary School (1825 8th Street NW). Peoples is also connected to a homicide case that is being tried separately.

Rakoczy urged all present not to think of drug dealing as a victimless crime.

"They're not victimless crimes because all of you, all of us, are victims," she said. 

ANC 6E/Shaw has already submitted a community impact statement in the case of Peoples and Green. It is available here.

You can view the DC Court records of Peoples, Long, and Green at court search page here. You can search by their full names, or enter the following case numbers into the "case number search" tool on the right:

Peoples: 2013 CF2 001589
Long: 2012 CF2 001592
Green: 2013 CF2 016141

There is a good explanation of community impact statements about half-way down this page from the US Attorney's Office.

ANC Crime Statements on the Increase?

Following the apparent success of a initiative by Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2B/Dupont Circle, the use of ANC-drafted community impact statements may be on the rise, with the US Attorney's office asking another ANC this week to make statements on three other cases.

Community impact statements are filed by ANCs and detail the effects of a convicted criminal's activity on the community and urge that the criminal receive a stringent sentence.

Dupont smash-and-grab man gets three years with ANC help

A report on the website of ANC2B Commissioner Kishan Putta (district 04) states that Gregory Teal, a man arrested over 40 times for theft from automobiles, has been sentenced to three years in prison. The sentencing occurred after ANC2B filed a community impact statement requesting Teal receive a sentence of 2 - 3 years. Previously, Teal had never received prison sentences of more than 90 days.

Lanier addresses ANC2F October 2

Putta reports he received thanks from DC Police Chief Cathy Lanier.

"This is a prime example how well we do when we work as a team," Lanier wrote.

Assistant Chief of Police Cathy Diane Groomes wrote to credit the ANC's statement for the unusually long sentence.

"[W]e are so happy that community came out to support this effort … truly it resulted in the sentence issued," Groomes wrote in an email.

See the October 21 SALM blog post for more on the Teal case and the ANC statement.

Logan Circle ANC asked to weigh in on three cases

At its regular monthly meeting November 6, ANC 2F/Logan Circle voted unanimously to file community impact statements in three separate cases of local crime. The statements were requested by Roger Kemp, a community prosector at the US Attorney's office. Kemp sat through a long meeting about other matters before he had the opportunity to request the ANC's assistance.

The first case Kemp mentioned is that of Jahlani Brown, 21, who pled guilty to first-degree sexual abuse on October 25. The incident took place at the Lincoln Westmoreland Apartments (1730 7th Street NW), just north of the Shaw metro station.

According to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice:

According to the government’s evidence, on Sept. 17, 2013, at about 9 a.m., the victim reported to her office in the Shaw area of Northwest Washington and began preparing for her workday.  Brown, who was captured on video surveillance, entered the office and locked the door. He sexually assaulted, threatened, and robbed the victim before leaving the office.

Following the attack, the police released screenshots of Brown from the video surveillance footage. He was arrested two days later and was not released.

Brown will be sentenced on January 10, 2014, and will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

The second case involves Carlito Bailey and Rickey Watkins, both 22, who were convicted on October 11 of aggravated assault, assault with a dangerous weapon, and related firearms offenses, after a jury trial in D.C. Superior Court.
From a U.S. Department of Justice press release:

Johnson Avenue and R Street (photo credit below)

According to the government’s evidence, on the night of May 5, 2012, Bailey, Watkins, and a third unidentified shooter traveled to Northwest Washington armed with firearms.  The three men approached the intersection of Johnson Avenue and R Street NW, where they opened fire, shooting at least ten bullets into a block crowded with adults and children gathered to celebrate a birthday party.  One of the adults was shot several times in the legs. After firing the shots, the men fled on Johnson Avenue.

Bailey and Watkins were apprehended approximately 24 minutes after the shooting in a car with two firearms. One of the firearms was a ballistics match to six shell casings and a bullet from the crime scene, and a swab from the slide of that weapon yielded DNA that matched the DNA profile of Bailey.  Cell site data placed Watkins at the scene of the shooting.

Read another report about the incident here.

Bailey and Watkins are scheduled to be sentenced on December 10, 2013, by D.C. Superior Court Judge Robert I. Ritcher.

The third case is that of Gregory A. Cole. ANC2F Commissioner Peter Lallas (district 01) said at the meeting he had specificially requested this case be put on the agenda. Lallas described Cole as a crack dealer who operated on 14th Street, especially around R Street. This area is in Lallas's ANC district.

ANC2F's Crime and Public Safety Committee will draft the statements.

The full ANC is next scheduled to meet on December 4, 7pm, at the Washington Plaza Hotel (10 Thomas Circle).

There is a good explanation of community impact statements about half-way down this page from the US Attorney's Office.

(Photo credit: Borderstan, used by permission)

ANC2B Statement against Smash-and-grab Man

On Friday, October 18, Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2B/Dupont Circle published a community impact statement against Gregory Teal, a man who has been arrested 43 times for thefts from cars, often in the Dupont area. Teal will be sentenced on October 28 by Stuart G. Nash, an associate judge for the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, for second-degree theft (felony), related to a July smash-and-grab from a car.

(Wikipedia)

ANC2B Commissioners Kishan Putta (district 04) and Noah Smith (district 09) organized, drafted, signed, and sent the statement to the judge. They were authorized to do so by an ANC2B resolution passed at the end of their last monthly meeting on October 9.

Previously, Teal has been charged with second-degree theft (misdemeanor), which carries a maximum sentence of 180 days. After his last conviction, he was released after less than 90 days in prison. However, owing to his many arrests and convictions, Teal can now be charged with a felony, which means he is eligible for up to ten years in prison.

ANC2B's community impact statement urges Judge Nash to sentence Teal to at least two or three years "to give our residents some minimal relief (and justice) and to show other criminals that such callous recidivism will not be tolerated".

The statement includes three pages of community comment which Putta and Smith gathered by email over the course of a week. A sample:

Our morning walks to work should not have to include a daily check to see if there are any new smash and grabs overnight.  Caroline Street is a quaint and surprisingly quiet one block street immediately south of the bustling U Street corridor 16th and U Streets NW.  This guy was relentless. I personally witnessed two neighbors dealing with the aftermath of smash and grabs while they were in the process of moving into their residences! According to the Caroline Street group email list, during the last year we have a record of 11 smash and grabs on our block and around the corner on adjacent 15th Street.  Now mind you, these are only the ones that have been noted and reported via our email. Clearly the actual number is higher and for the past several years the number must total dozens. 

It is not a particularly welcoming message to have to tell new neighbors moving in, or friends visiting, that they should strip their cars clean of contents or risk a smash and grab. More important, they should not have to do this!! The Nation’s Capital should not have to erect a warning sign at the borders, just below the “Welcome” sign that says, do not leave anything in your cars or our smash and grab experts will empty your car.  How welcoming is that?

The particular crime which Teal will be sentenced for did not take place in the Dupont Circle area. However, as part of the sentencing process, the ANC is still allowed to submit comments about the effect of a criminal's activity on a community.

The full text of the ANC2B community impact statement against Teal is available as a .pdf file here.

A short explanation of community impact statements, with links to other examples, can be found at the end of the September 23 SALM blog post.

ANC2F to Weigh Statement against Youtube Stickup Man

Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2F/Logan will consider filing a community impact statement at the sentencing of James E. Wade in November. Wade pleaded guilty on September 6 to the May 17 robbery of two diners seated on a patio outside Pizzoli's Pizzeria (1418 12th Street NW). The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) released a video of the robbery (below) taken by a security camera. The video went viral and got more than 25,000 views.

The sentencing is scheduled for November 7, according to the Washington Post.

At the meeting of ANC2F's Crime and Public Safety Committee on September 18, Commissioner Chris Linn (district 03) said the subject would be addressed at the next full meeting of the ANC, scheduled for 7pm on Wednesday, October 9, at the Washington Plaza Hotel (10 Thomas Circle).  

What is a community impact statement?

ANCs sometimes file community impact statements at the time of sentencing of criminals who have been active in their communities. They are entitled to do so under section 23-190 of the DC Code, which states

a representative of a community affected by the crime of which the defendant has been convicted shall have the right to submit, prior to imposition of sentence, a community impact statement and the court shall consider the community impact statement in determining the appropriate sentence to be imposed on the defendant.

Community impact statements often detail the specific negative effects that a criminal's activity has had on the community, and urge stringent sentencing.

See examples of community impact statements filed by two neighboring ANCs --  ANC6E/Shaw here and ANC2B/Dupont here -- in 2012.  

MPD Detective's comment
  
Detective Scott Guthrie of the Third District commented that "cameras closed that case."

After the video, the department received many calls.

Guthrie said: "They all called and said 'I know that guy and his name is'."