Category Archives: crime

Two arrested in anti-gay assault outside Crew Club

the Crew Club, gay news, Washington Blade

A male victim says he was beaten outside the Crew Club last week. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

D.C. police on April 25 arrested two men for allegedly assaulting and robbing a Silver Spring man about 1 a.m. that day as the man stood outside the Crew Club, a gay gym and health club at 1321 14th St., N.W.

According to a police report, the two arrested men were among three young males who allegedly began striking the victim “with closed fists while calling him a homophobic slur in Spanish.”

The victim, Daryll “Dario” Flammer told NBC 4 TV News in an on-camera interview on the day of the incident that he was smoking a cigarette on the sidewalk when he was “beaten, knocked out and robbed.”

The police report, which lists the incident as a possible anti-gay hate crime, says Flammer told police officers responding to the scene that the attackers stole his iPad, which police estimate has a value of $800.

Flammer “states that he temporarily lost consciousness and noticed the listed property missing when he regained consciousness. No other property was removed from his person,” the report says. It says an ambulance was called to the scene but Flammer declined treatment.

According to the police report, among the officers responding to the scene was an affiliate member of the police Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit.

D.C. police spokesperson Gwendolyn Crump identified the men arrested as Gustavo Velasquez, 24, and Ciriaco Oxlaj, 26, both residents of Northwest D.C.  Court records show the U.S. Attorney’s office charged the men with a single count of felony robbery and did not list the incident as a hate crime.

The U.S. Attorney’s office has said in the past that it prefers to put off making a decision on whether to list assaults and other crimes as hate crimes until the cases are presented before a grand jury.

D.C. Superior Court Judge Karen Howze released Velasquez and Oxalaj on their own recognizance at an April 25 presentment hearing pending a preliminary hearing scheduled for May 14, court records show. The records show that Howze granted the release on the condition that the two men stay away from Flammer and stay away from the section of 14th Street, N.W. between Massachusetts Avenue and Rhode Island Avenue within which the Crew Club is located.

“Initially, I felt a bump on my head, a hard bump, and that knocked me to the ground,” Flammer told NBC 4 News, which was the first media outlet to report the incident.

“For a couple of seconds I was disoriented, not conscious, and then another individual took my tie and started pulling on me…and I couldn’t breathe, and he literally took the tie and ripped it off my neck,” he told NBC 4 News.

Fighting back against street harassment

Silent March for Victims of GLBT Violence, Columbia Heights, hate crimes, gay news, Washington Blade

Members of the community fighting back against anti-gay hate crimes in Columbia Heights on Mar. 20, 2012. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

By PATRICK McNEIL

It’s April and I’m glad the weather is tolerable. I love taking walks and I love spending time outside. It’s beautiful, but warmer temperatures unfortunately also mean more opportunities for street harassment.

It’s a blessing and a curse.

For women and LGBTQ individuals (and those perceived to be LGBTQ), street harassment is a systemic, year-long problem, but we’re reminded at this time every year, when we engage in public interaction with greater frequency, how large of a problem it is.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness & Prevention Month and earlier this month was International Anti-Street Harassment Week, a week during which activists work to raise awareness about how serious of an issue street harassment is. The event began two years ago as one day, an initiative started by Stop Street Harassment founder Holly Kearl. For the past two years, hundreds of organizations from around the globe have participated in weeklong movements.

As a gay man living in one of the gayest cities in America (and the gayest state), I’ve been particularly interested in the public harassment of this community. While my master’s thesis covered only gay and bisexual men, I am part of the community and an ally to everyone in the community. I don’t want anyone to experience street harassment.

Unfortunately, we do. Recently, the New York Times published a piece about the unfair treatment of transgender individuals by police officers in New York. I shed a tear while reading the article, a cruel reminder that, if you’re in public and not cis gender, you’re likely to be harassed. For gay men and lesbians, too, public displays of femininity and masculinity that at least border on gender non-conforming result in verbal assaults. And sometimes it gets physical.

Earlier this month in Paris, a gay couple was brutally beaten for holding hands in public. And this isn’t uncommon. Couples in the LGBTQ community are constantly required to negotiate a desire for visibility while recognizing the very real dangers of being out in public. Couples are reminded all the time that their presence is unwanted in public spaces. It’s a great source of stress and something that’s always on our minds, coupled or alone. In fact, according to my own research, about 71 percent of gay and bisexual men constantly assess their surroundings when navigating public spaces.

And we’re reminded in examples like these that our struggles are unique. When a heterosexual woman is accompanied by her partner, her chances of being harassed go down. For LGBTQ individuals the opposite happens. I’ve been there. I’ve been harassed on the street and on the Metro for holding hands with a guy. It’s not news to anyone that it happens, but it does happen with alarming frequency.

The public harassment of LGBTQ individuals is also unfortunate because of how different everyone’s identity development looks. I didn’t even come out to myself until college, but I was certainly bullied growing up for being gay. I felt social pressures and I felt uncomfortable. When you’re internally reconciling a queer identity and simultaneously being harassed because of the identity you refuse to accept, life is not easy, and it can stall the coming out process. One of my research participants, even though he was out to himself, delayed his coming out because he knew his small-town Iowa peers would adversely react. People shouldn’t have to hide their identities because they fear public retribution.

And really, I can’t say that I experience street harassment every day, as I know many women and many other LGBTQ individuals can. I don’t have to experience it to feel its effects, because I am always afraid. I’m afraid because it’s possible, because it’s happened before and will happen again, and because we live in a society where it’s unfortunately normal and expected.

These problems won’t be fixed in a week of activism and we’re likely not to even make a dent. But we have to start somewhere. Stop Street Harassment, regional Hollaback organizations, and others work year-round to combat the public harassment of women and LGBTQ folks, and they need our help.

If you’re harassed, share your story. The more of us who speak out, the more attention it will get. It’s about collectively amplifying each other’s voices, about standing in solidarity and saying that this isn’t OK. It’s about human rights and creating social spaces where all humans are free from this form of public harassment.

Patrick McNeil is a D.C.-based writer. Reach him at patrickryne@gmail.com.

Fighting back against street harassment

Silent March for Victims of GLBT Violence, Columbia Heights, hate crimes, gay news, Washington Blade

Members of the community fighting back against anti-gay hate crimes in Columbia Heights on Mar. 20, 2012. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

By PATRICK McNEIL

It’s April and I’m glad the weather is tolerable. I love taking walks and I love spending time outside. It’s beautiful, but warmer temperatures unfortunately also mean more opportunities for street harassment.

It’s a blessing and a curse.

For women and LGBTQ individuals (and those perceived to be LGBTQ), street harassment is a systemic, year-long problem, but we’re reminded at this time every year, when we engage in public interaction with greater frequency, how large of a problem it is.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness & Prevention Month and earlier this month was International Anti-Street Harassment Week, a week during which activists work to raise awareness about how serious of an issue street harassment is. The event began two years ago as one day, an initiative started by Stop Street Harassment founder Holly Kearl. For the past two years, hundreds of organizations from around the globe have participated in weeklong movements.

As a gay man living in one of the gayest cities in America (and the gayest state), I’ve been particularly interested in the public harassment of this community. While my master’s thesis covered only gay and bisexual men, I am part of the community and an ally to everyone in the community. I don’t want anyone to experience street harassment.

Unfortunately, we do. Recently, the New York Times published a piece about the unfair treatment of transgender individuals by police officers in New York. I shed a tear while reading the article, a cruel reminder that, if you’re in public and not cis gender, you’re likely to be harassed. For gay men and lesbians, too, public displays of femininity and masculinity that at least border on gender non-conforming result in verbal assaults. And sometimes it gets physical.

Earlier this month in Paris, a gay couple was brutally beaten for holding hands in public. And this isn’t uncommon. Couples in the LGBTQ community are constantly required to negotiate a desire for visibility while recognizing the very real dangers of being out in public. Couples are reminded all the time that their presence is unwanted in public spaces. It’s a great source of stress and something that’s always on our minds, coupled or alone. In fact, according to my own research, about 71 percent of gay and bisexual men constantly assess their surroundings when navigating public spaces.

And we’re reminded in examples like these that our struggles are unique. When a heterosexual woman is accompanied by her partner, her chances of being harassed go down. For LGBTQ individuals the opposite happens. I’ve been there. I’ve been harassed on the street and on the Metro for holding hands with a guy. It’s not news to anyone that it happens, but it does happen with alarming frequency.

The public harassment of LGBTQ individuals is also unfortunate because of how different everyone’s identity development looks. I didn’t even come out to myself until college, but I was certainly bullied growing up for being gay. I felt social pressures and I felt uncomfortable. When you’re internally reconciling a queer identity and simultaneously being harassed because of the identity you refuse to accept, life is not easy, and it can stall the coming out process. One of my research participants, even though he was out to himself, delayed his coming out because he knew his small-town Iowa peers would adversely react. People shouldn’t have to hide their identities because they fear public retribution.

And really, I can’t say that I experience street harassment every day, as I know many women and many other LGBTQ individuals can. I don’t have to experience it to feel its effects, because I am always afraid. I’m afraid because it’s possible, because it’s happened before and will happen again, and because we live in a society where it’s unfortunately normal and expected.

These problems won’t be fixed in a week of activism and we’re likely not to even make a dent. But we have to start somewhere. Stop Street Harassment, regional Hollaback organizations, and others work year-round to combat the public harassment of women and LGBTQ folks, and they need our help.

If you’re harassed, share your story. The more of us who speak out, the more attention it will get. It’s about collectively amplifying each other’s voices, about standing in solidarity and saying that this isn’t OK. It’s about human rights and creating social spaces where all humans are free from this form of public harassment.

Patrick McNeil is a D.C.-based writer. Reach him at patrickryne@gmail.com.

Universal Gear store robbed

Universal Gear, gay news, Washington Blade

Universal Gear (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The D.C. men’s clothing store Universal Gear, which is gay owned, lost about $5,000 in merchandise on Saturday morning, March 23, in a snatch-and-grab robbery committed by two unidentified male suspects, according to store official Yemi Mengistu.

Mengistu said the incident at the upscale store at 1529 14th St., N.W., marked the fifth time it has been victimized by similar robberies since 2009. As it has since 2009, Universal Gear’s owner, David Franco, has posted on YouTube a video of the robbery in progress taken from the store’s surveillance cameras.

D.C. police have listed the incident as a robbery and assault, Mengistu told the Blade, because one of the two suspects assaulted her as she tried to stop them from leaving while they carried large quantities of clothes form the store’s racks.

Franco has urged police to assign more foot patrol officers to the 14th Street business district where Universal Gear is located as a means of deterring what he has called an ongoing series of robberies by brazen young men, some appearing to be teenagers, who have targeted his store.

Similar to the past incidents, the latest two suspects posed as customers browsing the store before grabbing merchandise and running out into a getaway car parked nearby.

The store is offering a $500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of any of the suspects involved in the robberies. Anyone with information about the latest or past incidents should call Universal Gear at 202-319-0136 and the D.C. police crime line at 202-727-9099.

Gay Md. man faces charges in hit-and-run

A gay Annapolis man faces charges in connection with an alleged hit-and-run accident that left a D.C. woman dead.

Prosecutors contend Joel Bromwell struck Ruby Whitfield with his SUV on March 21 as she and two other people were walking across Florida Avenue at the intersection of 11th Street in Northeast D.C. after attending a meeting at New Samaritan Baptist Church. The police charging document alleges Bromwell’s vehicle dragged Whitfield for “approximately 86 feet before becoming dislodged from” it.

Bromwell reportedly told police officers who took him into custody that he had just left Cobalt before the incident. The police charging document says he told them he had two Captain Morgan rum and cokes “over a period of two hours.”

Bromwell, 32, faces charges that include intent to kill another and to inflict serious bodily injury on another with a conscious disregard of an extreme risk of death or serious bodily injury to another.

Montgomery County police investigate anti-gay vandalism

Montgomery County Police Dept. photo via Facebook.

Montgomery County Police Dept. photo via Facebook.

Montgomery County police continue to investigate an incident of anti-gay vandalism against one of its cruisers.

The department said in a press release that officers responded to a report of vandalism on Melody Lane in Bethesda around 3:15 a.m. on Feb. 17. They found a vehicle with profanity and “images of male genitalia” that had been spray painted onto it.

The officers also found a swastika and anti-gay comments spray painted onto a Montgomery County Police Department K-9 vehicle.

The department said officers responded to two other vandalism incidents — including a landscaping rock that had been painted with a swastika — later on Feb. 17 on Wahly Drive.

A Montgomery County Police Department spokesperson told the Washington Blade earlier on Monday there is “no update at this time” on the investigation. The MCPD is offering up to a $2,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest in the case.

Judge upholds murder charge in roommate stabbing case

1630 Fuller St., N.W., The Mozart, gay news, Washington Blade

1630 Fuller St., N.W. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

A D.C. Superior Court judge on Wednesday ruled that prosecutors demonstrated probable cause exists that David Jamal Wilson, 21, allegedly stabbed his 68-year-old roommate to death in the D.C. apartment they shared.

Police found Howard Venable dead in his apartment at the Mozart Apartments at 1630 Fuller St., N.W. on Feb. 2. The U.S. Attorney’s office charged Wilson with second degree murder while armed on Feb. 4 after D.C. police homicide detectives discovered he used credit cards he allegedly stole from Venable to withdraw more than $600 in cash from ATM machines in District Heights, Md.

During a Feb. 20 preliminary hearing, Judge Stuart Nash ruled that prosecutors provided sufficient evidence to show probable cause and “substantial probability” that Wilson murdered Venable. The ruling clears the case for trial, which is expected to take place later this year.

No mention was made during the hearing about how Venable and Wilson met or the nature of their relationship. Two sources told the Blade that the two were having an affair and that Venable was providing financial support for Wilson.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Holly Schick, the prosecutor in the case, pointed to an autopsy report showing that Venable was stabbed multiple times in the neck and torso and had “defensive” wounds on his hands and arms.

A police arrest affidavit says Wilson initially denied he was staying in the apartment and denied any role in the murder. It says he gave police several conflicting versions of how Venable was killed, including one version that Venable was stabbed by intruders who planned to rob him. The affidavit says Wilson acknowledged Venable had been stabbed before police publicly disclosed the killing involved a stabbing.

In another version, Wilson said he got into a fight with Venable inside the apartment and Venable retrieved a knife from the kitchen and the two struggled before Venable fell and stabbed himself, the affidavit says.

In his ruling, Nash said the autopsy report and other evidence shows the death could not have been caused by Venable accidently stabbing himself.

Defense attorney Jacqueline Cadman argued that police did not present any physical evidence linking Wilson to the murder. She said Wilson gave several versions of what may have happened during a four-hour interrogation session at the police homicide office.

“It is speculation,” she said. “There is no evidence whatsoever that links Mr. Wilson to Mr. Venable’s death.”

She urged Nash to release Wilson from jail while he awaits trial, saying he would not present a risk to the community. She noted that Wilson is married and has three small children, who rely on him for financial support.

Nash declined that request and ordered Wilson held until trial.

Court records show that Wilson’s wife obtained a civil protection order against him in July 2011 after accusing him of assaulting her and presenting what she believed was a threat to their children. Records show the Superior Court’s Domestic Violence Unit issued a stay away order prohibiting Wilson from returning to the home where he and his wife and children had been living.

At Wednesday’s court hearing on the murder charge, defense attorney Cadman said Wilson’s wife was in the courtroom to show her support for him and favored a ruling to allow Wilson’s release on bond.

Judge Nash scheduled a status hearing for May 10.

Roommate charged in murder of D.C. man

1630 Fuller St., N.W., The Mozart, gay news, Washington Blade

1630 Fuller St., N.W. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

A 21-year-old D.C. man charged with stabbing his 68-year-old roommate to death on Feb. 2 was released from jail three weeks before the murder when a D.C. Superior Court judge dismissed an unrelated assault and robbery charge pending against him.

D.C. police on Feb. 3 charged David Jamal Wilson with first-degree felony murder while armed for the alleged fatal stabbing of Howard Venable, Jr., inside Venable’s apartment at 1630 Fuller St., N.W.

Court records show the U.S. Attorney’s office, which is prosecuting the case, lowered the charge to second-degree murder while armed when prosecutors filed charging papers in D.C. Superior Court.

Two sources familiar with the case told the Washington Blade that Venable had been having an affair with Wilson and was providing financial support for him during the time Wilson was living with him.

Court charging documents list Wilson’s address as 1400 Fairmont St., N.W., where he had been living in the past with his mother, sources said. WhitePages.com, an online phone and address directory, lists a David Wilson and Sertira Wilson as residing in the same apartment at 1400 Fairmont St., N.W., sometime in the recent past.

D.C. police spokesperson Gwendolyn Crump confirmed that Wilson had been living with Venable at the time of the murder and that homicide detectives were investigating the nature of the relationship between the two men.

Court records show that Wilson and two other men were charged with armed robbery on Aug. 22, 2012 for allegedly stealing a bicycle from another man at knifepoint in Meridian Hill Park. Court records show that Wilson was initially held in jail following his arrest and later released through a court supervised release program while awaiting trial.

According to court records, prosecutors lowered the charge against Wilson from robbery while armed, which is classified as a felony, to second-degree theft and simple assault, which are misdemeanor offenses.

The court records show Wilson was returned to jail after prosecutors told the judge he violated the terms of his release.

But the case unraveled a short time later, court records show, when Superior Court Judge Marisa J. Demeo dismissed the case and ordered Wilson released from jail on Jan. 10, 2013, on grounds of “want of prosecution.”

William Miller, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office, told the Blade on Tuesday that Demeo dismissed the case on the day the trial was scheduled to begin when the victim, who was to be the lead witness, failed to show up in court for the trial.

“The case was dismissed without prejudice, which would allow us to bring the case up again,” Miller said. He said prosecutors have been unable to locate the victim.

Miller declined to comment on Wilson’s latest arrest for the murder of Venable, saying the U.S. Attorney’s office never comments on pending criminal cases.

Details of the murder allegations against Wilson were filed in court on Feb. 4 as part of an arrest affidavit. The document says police found Venable lying face down in a pool of blood on the floor of his apartment under the bedroom doorway at 6:48 p.m.

Personnel from the D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Service Department determined there were no signs of life when they arrived on the scene, the affidavit says. An autopsy later found that Venable suffered “multiple slashing wounds to the neck, minor cuts to both hands consistent with defensive wounds, and two stab wounds to the upper torso.”

One of the stab wounds to the torso struck his aorta, leading the D.C. Medical Examiner’s office to conclude the cause of death was “sharp force wounds to the neck and torso.”

The affidavit says two witnesses who knew Venable told a homicide detective a male roommate was living with Venable. One of the witnesses identified the roommate as Wilson, the affidavit says.

It says the apartment was locked and there were no signs of a forced entry or a struggle when someone from the building initially entered the apartment and found Venable lying on the floor unconscious.

A short time later, detectives discovered that money was withdrawn from Venable’s checking account shortly after the murder through an ATM in a convenience store at a BP gas station in District Heights, Md., the affidavit says. It says detectives viewed a surveillance video from the gas station and store and saw Wilson enter and place at least two different cards into the ATM in several separate transactions. The video shows him placing cash obtained from the ATM into his pockets, the affidavit says.

Without saying how police learned where to find Wilson, the affidavit says detectives on Feb. 3 arrived at a residence at 1841 Addison Road in District Heights, Md., where Wilson was staying. It says Wilson agreed to go with detectives to the D.C. police homicide office in Southwest D.C., where he was questioned about Venable’s murder.

“During the course of the interview, the defendant provided numerous inconsistent accounts of his involvement in the decedent’s murder,” the affidavit says. It says Wilson initially said he had not been in Venable’s apartment since Jan. 10 but later said he entered the apartment on Jan. 31 before leaving for work and returned later and found Venable’s body lying in the doorway to the victim’s bedroom.

He denied taking Venable’s bank cards and later claimed someone else he knows told him that person planned to rob Venable. The other person, whom Wilson identified as “Stacks,” invited him to meet him in Maryland and gave him Venable’s bankcards and persuaded him to use them to withdraw money from the ATM at the gas station convenience store, the affidavit says.

“The defendant, who was 47 years younger than the decedent, finally said he was involved in an argument with the decedent inside the apartment and that the decedent went to the kitchen and retrieved a knife,” says the affidavit. “The defendant said he and the decedent wrestled for control of the knife and the decedent fell to the floor stabbing himself,” it says.

“The defendant was then placed under arrest,” it says.

Wilson, who is being held without bond, is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Feb. 20.

Family to memorialize slain trans woman

The stepfather and sister of a transgender woman stabbed to death at a Northeast D.C. bus stop last February are inviting members of the LGBT community to participate in a memorial remembrance for Deoni Jones on Saturday, Feb. 2, to commemorate the anniversary of her death.

Deoni Jones, gay news, gay politics dc

Over 200 people attended a candlelight vigil held for Jones. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

Jones’ family members, who refer to her by her birth name JaParker, told more than 200 people who turned out for a vigil at the site of the murder days after the incident took place that they fully accepted her as a transgender woman and treated her as a cherished member of the family.

“We want to have this event to not only honor JaParker, but to also shine light on the fact that so often members of our society who are GLBT face violence in their daily lives simply because of who they are, and that as a civilized society we will not tolerate violence against the GLBT community,” said Alvin Bethea, Jones’ stepfather.

“At this memorial we will have prayer, songs, and statements from the community,” Bethea said in an email to the Blade.

He said Jones’ sister, JuDean Jones, and other family members and friends were helping to organize the memorial remembrance.

The event is scheduled to take place 4:30 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 2, at East Capitol Street and Sycamore Street, N.E., at the site of the Metro bus stop where police say Jones was stabbed while sitting on a bench waiting for a bus.

Through the help of witnesses and nearby residents, D.C. police charged 55-year-old Gary Niles Montgomery with second-degree murder while armed in connection with Jones’ death eight days after the murder took place. In November, a D.C. Superior Court grand jury indicted Montgomery on a charge of first-degree murder while armed.

He has been held in jail without bond since the time of his arrest in February 2012.

A police arrest affidavit says a video surveillance camera which recorded the murder shows a male assailant taking Jones’ purse immediately after stabbing her in the face. The affidavit says witnesses identified the person in the video as Montgomery.

Although the taking of the purse indicates the motive of the attack was robbery, police said they have not ruled out the possibility that Jones was targeted because of her status as a transgender person.

However, Bethea told the Blade that he and his family believe Jones’ murder was a hate crime and that police and prosecutors should have classified it as a hate crime, which would give a judge authority to hand down a more stringent or “enhanced” sentence if Montgomery is convicted.

“We believe that it is clear in the video footage of this murder that the elements of a hate crime are present and that hate crime enhancement papers should be served upon this individual,” Bethea said in a email.

He said the family has urged the U.S. Attorney’s office, which is prosecuting the case, to list the murder as a hate crime.

“[W]e are considering filing a complaint with the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division seeking redress of [this] error,” Bethea said in his email.

According to court records, on March 23, Montgomery was declared competent to stand trial following a court ordered mental evaluation. He pleaded not guilty on Nov. 9, two days after the grand jury indicted him on the first-degree murder while armed charge. During a court hearing on Nov. 30, Superior Court Judge Robert E. Morin scheduled a trial date for June 10.

Court records show that questions surrounding Montgomery’s metal health surfaced in January, prompting Morin to order “24 hour forensic screening” for Montgomery “based on the representations of defense counsel.”

Morin scheduled a mental observation hearing for 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 29, to assess Montgomery’s condition.

Court records show Morin denied at least two requests by Montgomery’s attorneys that he be released from jail while awaiting trial. Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s office opposed the requests for Montgomery’s release.

D.C. Homicide Watch, a blog that reports on all murder cases in the city, reported that defense attorney Colle Latin argued in a motion that prosecutors failed to demonstrate that Montgomery would be a risk to the community or of fleeing the area if released. Latin also argued that the video, which is fuzzy in quality, doesn’t clearly identify Montgomery as the person who stabbed Jones.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

Probation for D.C. cop in trans shooting case

Metro DC Police, gay news, Washington Blade

D.C. police officer Kenneth Furr was sentenced in a case related to the firing of his gun through the windshield of a car with the five people inside. (Washington Blade photo by Phil Reese)

An off-duty D.C. police officer accused in August 2011 of firing his service revolver into a car occupied by three transgender women and two male friends was sentenced on Thursday to three years of supervised probation, a $150 fine, and 100 hours of community service.

D.C. Superior Court Judge Russell Canan also sentenced Officer Kenneth Furr, 48, to five years in prison but suspended all but 14 months of the prison term and credited Furr with the 14 months he already served between the time of his arrest and his trial last October.

Canan released Furr October 26 while awaiting sentencing after a Superior Court jury convicted him of assault with a deadly weapon and solicitation for prostitution but acquitted him on six other charges, including the most serious charge of assault with intent to kill while armed.

The latter charge was linked to his firing of five shots into the car where the transgender women and their friends were sitting.

Police and prosecutors have said the shooting occurred following a confrontation that started when Furr solicited one of the transgender women for sex for money at 5th and K Streets, N.W., and followed the woman after she rejected his offer. Furr then argued with one or more of her friends who asked Furr leave her alone.

At the time of his arrest, police said Furr’s blood alcohol level was twice that of the legal limit for drivers.

Canan rejected a request by Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Worm, the lead prosecutor, that Furr be given the maximum sentence of 5 years in prison for the assault with a deadly weapon charge. He also denied her request for an additional three months incarceration for the solicitation conviction.

News of the shooting outraged LGBT activists as well as Mayor Vincent Gray and members of the D.C. City Council, who called for stepped up efforts to curtail violence against the city’s transgender community.

The D.C. Trans Coalition issued a statement late Thursday calling the sentence of no additional jail time for Furr “outrageous” and said it would heighten longstanding fears by the transgender community of mistreatment and abuse by police officers.

“This result is the product of a legal system that constantly devalues trans lives, particularly trans people of color,” said D.C. Trans Coalition member Jason Terry. “Officer Furr’s defense team actively sought to portray the victims as somehow deserving of this violence, and apparently they succeeded,” he said.

“If roles had been reversed and a black trans woman had gotten drunk and shot a gun at a police officer, the results would be drastically different,” Terry said.

Court observers said the jury’s decision to find Furr not guilty on the assault with intent to kill while armed charge most likely resulted from a successful effort by Furr’s attorneys to portray the shooting as an act of self-defense.

Canan said his suspension of 46 months of the 60 month (five year) prison term was contingent upon Furr’s successful completion of his three year probation period and other restrictions, including a requirement that he stay away from the five complainants.

Court records show Canan also ordered Furr to stay away from “the area bounded by: New York Avenue, Massachusetts Avenue, 7th Street, N.W. and North Capitol Street, N.W.,” which is widely known as one of the city’s transgender prostitution zones.

In addition, Canan set as a condition for the parole that Furr enter an alcohol treatment program and enroll in anger management classes.

In the sentencing memorandum on behalf of the U.S. Attorney’s office, Worm said one reason why Furr was not a good candidate for a sentence involving parole and no prison time was that he failed to immediately comply with his pre-sentencing release conditions. She noted that although he was instructed to report immediately after his release on Oct. 26 for regular alcohol testing and other conditions, he did not report for the testing until a full month after his release.

The charge of assault with a deadly weapon, on which he was convicted, stemmed from allegations by prosecutors that Furr pointed his gun at one of the transgender women’s friends outside a CVS store on the 400 block of Massachusetts Ave., N.W. at about 5 a.m. on Aug 26, 2011.

According to testimony by the victims, Furr solicited one of the trans women propositioning sex for money minutes earlier on the street at 5th and K Streets, N.W. The woman rebuffed his request and walked away, but Furr followed her to the CVS store, where one of her male friends called on Furr to leave her alone, witnesses reported.

Furr then started an argument that continued outside the store, where Furr pulled out his gun and pointed it at the women’s friend.

Although Furr did not fire the gun, prosecutors argued his action constituted an assault with a deadly weapon and persuaded the jury to convict him on that count.

During the trial the defense presented evidence, which prosecutors acknowledged was factually correct, that the trans women and their male friends responded by following Furr in their car after Furr drove away from the CVS store.

Trial testimony showed that the group followed Furr to the area of 3rd and K Street, N.W., where they observed Furr attempting to solicit another transgender woman for sex. At that point, two of the people in the car got out and confronted Furr and one or both of them assaulted Furr, witnesses testified during the trial.

Furr then returned to his car and drove away, with the trans women and their male friends following him again, witnesses testified. This prompted Furr to stop his car at First and Pierce Streets, N.W., and fire his gun at the other car, which Furr’s lawyer said was in pursuit of his, according to testimony at the trial.

One of the male friends driving the vehicle ducked to avoid being shot and unintentionally rammed the car into Furr’s car, witnesses testified.

Furr responded by climbing on the hood of the car occupied by the transgender women and their friends and fired five times through the front windshield, causing three of the occupants to suffer non-fatal gunshot wounds.

Within minutes D.C. police rushed to the scene and arrested Furr, who was found to have a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit under D.C. law.

David Knight, Furr’s lead defense attorney, appeared to have persuaded the jury that the people he shot at were the aggressors and Furr acted in self-defense, court observers said.

“He was alone, outnumbered and under attack,” the Washington Post quoted Knight saying to the jury. “He was threatened, assaulted and pursued by a car full of people who wanted to harm him.”

In her sentencing memorandum, Worm said that at no point did Furr identify himself as a police officer to the complainants nor did he call for police help if he believed he was in danger.

“To be sure, some of the complainants involved in this incident engaged in risky behavior and bad judgment,” she said in the memo.

“The government does not minimize the fact that both parties had opportunities to withdraw from this conflict, but the government’s view, as exhibited in its charging decisions, is that the defendant bore criminal responsibility for provoking and escalating the conflict, and introducing a deadly weapon into a situation that could have otherwise been resolved,” Worm wrote in the memo.

“Many of the witnesses who testified at trial were associated, in some way, with Washington, D.C.’s transgender community,” Worm said in the memo. “That community has historically suffered discrimination from a variety of sources. Moreover, the members of the transgender community bear a heightened risk that they will be victims of violent crime,” she wrote.

“This defendant was a police officer charged with protecting and serving the citizens of the District of Columbia,” she said. “Defendant Furr’s actions on the night of this offense increased the transgender community’s already significant safety concerns and their distrust of the Metropolitan Police Department.”

D.C. police spokesperson Gwendolyn Crump said Furr has been suspended without pay and that the department will follow its standard procedure for dealing with an officer convicted of a felony. Police observers have said a felony conviction, especially one associated with violence, usually results in the firing of a police officer.