A D.C. official said today that the Oak Hill Youth Center, the city's facility for housing youth offenders, will shut down in two weeks. "This is a good achievement for the city," said David Muhammad, chief of committed services for the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services. Muhammad made the remarks at a youth conference at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

The shuttering of the center is a long-overdue step for the District government. For years and years, the facility has been plagued by overcrowding, subpar conditions, and escapes. The new facility is just a quarter-mile away.

Reporting by Jason Cherkis

Reporting by Mike DeBonis

Closing arguments recently wrapped on United States vs. Harold Brazil. In case you missed it, catch up on the former councilmember testifying on his own behalf. Judge Jennifer Anderson dismissed participants with the announcement that her ruling will happen on Friday, May 1. Details on the closings to come. Check more trial coverage here, here, and here.

Reporting by Jason Cherkis

Today, in Room 218 of D.C. Superior Court, the trial of former At-Large Councilmember Harold Brazil lumbered on.

A quick refresher: Brazil's charges stem from an Oct. 9, 2008, incident at Georgetown tattoo parlor Jinx Proof. After 7 p.m. that night, Brazil entered the shop with two female companions, one of whom went to the back of the parlor to get a tattoo. The other woman tried to go back to check on the tattoo-getting woman but was rebuffed: Only tattoo-getting people can go back there.. Things then got testy, and in no time Brazil was involved in a scuffle with three Jinx Proof employees, who restrained him while the cops were summoned.

Brazil's side of the story is that the shopkeeper, Francis Peyton, called him a "nigger." Peyton denies it.

Brazil's version of events took center-stage in today's proceedings. In testimony that began at 12:05 p.m., Brazil described the night at the parlor as "like, calm and then...it just exploded."

Read More "Brazil Testifies in Assault Trial" »

At a press conference this morning, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty announced the installation of former D.C. public schools principal Ximena Hartsock as the head of the Department of Parks and Recreation.

Hold on--that means someone was fired.

Yes, that was Clark Ray, who was nominated by Fenty in August 2007 to run DPR. True to the administration's workaholic ways, the dismissal wasn't done in accordance with any standard of work-life balance. City Administrator Dan Tangherlini brought Ray in for a talking-to on Sunday evening.

Said Fenty of the abrupt leadership change: "It was very clear we needed to shift gears." He said that the department's programming "needs to go to the next level." Fenty said that Ray would be moving to a job with the Greater Washington Sports Alliance.

As for Hartsock, she was principal of Ross Elementary School in Dupont Circle before getting pulled into the administration of DCPS Chancellor Michelle Rhee. There, she ran the office of "out-of-school" affairs, managing afterschool, summer school, and Saturday programs---about 30,000 students, said Hartsock. Hartsock faces questions about her suitability for the job, considering that her resume is big on stuff like bilingual education but short on parks stuff. "Managing summer school is like running a school system," said Hartsock at the press conference. Hartsock, a longtime resident of Arlington, will move to the District, as the law requires of agency directors.

At least one onlooker is puzzled by the move: "I just think he was a very responsive director," says Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr., who oversees the department. "He set a standard so I don't know what reason the administration had for letting him go.

Fenty was asked whether the dumping of Ray had anything to do with the controversy over his kids' participation in a city basketball rec league. Michael Williams, who administered youth leagues at DPR, claims in a recently filed lawsuit that he was dismissed from his job after raising questions about whether the Fenty children were playing in the proper age bracket.

Hizzoner had no trouble dodging this question. "That's a double no-comment, the first in the administration," he said, referring to the fact that the matter is both under litigation and concerns personnel.

Reporting by Mike DeBonis

Mike DeBonis reports:

Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry has left court, surrounded by staff, friends, and family, including his son, Christopher.

He appeared very frail. He spoke very slowly, in an unsure voice. "Let me make it crystal-clear," he said. "I understand my responsibility as an American citizen. I apologize to the judge and take full responsibility." He went on to describe the dispute with District tax authorities and reminded people that he filed his 2008 taxes early. He had some harsh words for prosecutors: "The government goes to the extreme, paints the worst picture it can, distorts the truth." He said he would "not let this distract me from my health and my work."

When asked whether Americans are obligated to pay their taxes, the former mayor replied in a somewhat cryptic fashion: "Absolutely. Except those who protest."

Barry also addressed his health. He said his new kidney is working. "The kidney is working fine. In fact it's overworking because I've been dehydrated," he said. He said a doctor told him yesterday that he's cleared to resume a limited work schedule.

Prosecutors are recommending two years of probation with the first 30 days spent on home monitoring. Barry would have a curfew on nights and his weekend activities would be restricted.

This recommendation followed a determination that the halfway house to which prosecutors had hoped   Barry would be sentenced had no medical facilities, and that the jail, too, had minimal medical facilities.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson will not be ruling today.

Earlier. Earlier still.

File photograph by Darrow Montgomery

Mike DeBonis continues his coverage of Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry's probation hearing:

Barry's probation officer, Kurt Panzer, has just recommended to the court that Barry's probation be extended for two years. The prosecution is asking that Barry be jailed for 30 days, either on weekends or at a halfway house. Court's in recess at the moment while the principles try to determine whether there's a halfway house with the facilities to deal with the former mayor's myriad health problems, which include hypertension and diabetes.

It is unusual for a probation officer's recommendation to be at odds with that of prosecutors.

Barry's attorney, Frederick Cooke, maintains that if any sanction must be meted out, that a one-year parole extension is appropriate.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson has hinted she may not rule today. Barry may be asked to speak after the recess.

File photograph by Darrow Montgomery

Mike DeBonis reports during a recess:

Marion Barry, wearing a pink paisley tie, arrived 20 minutes early to a hearing to determine whether his probation should be revoked for his failure to file a 2007 tax return on time.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson convened the hearing 20 minutes late, setting up a virtually unprecedented situation: Marion Barry waiting on someone rather than the other way around.

After a discussion of preliminary matters, Robinson heard arguments from Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Zeno and from Barry's Attorney, Frederick Cooke.

Veno argued that Marion Barry needs to be put in jail. "Marion Barry is a man of substance and talent," he said. "And he should not use those gifts to avoid paying taxes."

"We believe that the fact of the incarceration is the important fact, not the length."

After that Cooke made his arguments. To have Robinson revoke Barry's probation, prosecutors have to prove that he willfully disregarded its terms. Cooke argues that since the government has been "overly aggressive" in its pursuit of this matter, Barry couldn't have possibly willfully disregarded the terms of his parole.

"There was no way this defendant was not going to pay his taxes and get away with it. There was no upside to that."

Barry was distracted by health problems, Cooke argues. Failing to file the 2007 return was an oversight.
Cooke has asked that if any sanction needs to be given that Barry's probation be extended for a year.

Barry's probation officer, DeBonis says, seems wary of jailing him for this violation.

Court's back in session; we'll update at the next recess.

File photograph by Darrow Montgomery

CORRECTION: Due to a transcription error by Andrew Beaujon, Thomas Zeno's name was misspelled.

Moments ago in D.C. Superior Court's Room 218, Judge Jennifer Anderson dismissed a motion brought by the attorney for Harold Brazil to acquit the councilmember on the misdemeanor assault charges against him. G. Allen Dale argued that there wasn't enough evidence in the day's testimony to convict the former lawmaker.

That testimony came from Jinx Proof tattoo parlor manager Francis Peyton, as well as tattoo artist Eric Doyle. Both gave their respective accounts of the action inside the parlor on the night of Oct. 9, 2008, when Brazil entered Jinx Proof along with two women, one of whom was in the market for a tattoo. After she went to the back of the store, the other woman attempted to make her way to the tattooing area but was told to stay out front. Brazil then attempted to intervene and got in a fight with Peyton, Doyle, and one other store employee.

Brazil says he was called a "nigger" just prior to the fight; Peyton denies ever having used an epithet and Doyle, in his testimony, said he never heard anything racial.

Interesting twist in the case: Both Doyle and Peyton, though witnesses for the prosecution, were not eager to come forth and had to be subpoenaed to give their accounts in trial. On the stand, they both made comments to the effect that, hey, no one got hurt in the incident, so what's the point of dragging everyone through this mess?

Clearly that's not how prosecutors roll.

So, what's the likely impact of the witnesses' nonchalance about the charges? Says on-the-scene Loose Lips reporter Mike DeBonis: "It lends more credibility to the testimony that they give."

The latest tack for the defense is to throw a character witness on the stand for Brazil. The Rev. Dr. Judith Talbert, pastor of the Faith Tabernacle Prayer Church for All People, noted that she'd known the defendant for 13 years and had found him "very compassionate."

Reporting by Mike DeBonis

In an October confrontation at a Georgetown tattoo parlor, former D.C. Councilmember Harold Brazil pissed on the shop floor, according to testimony this morning in his trial on misdemeanor assault charges at D.C. Superior Court. His attorney argues that he was provoked in the most vile manner possible.

The public urination occurred in the midst of a melee at the shop, Jinx Proof (3285 1/2 M Street NW), involving Brazil, two female companions, and the shop's employees. The incident began at about 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 9, when Brazil entered Jinx Proof with his secretary and another woman of undetermined relation to Brazil (more details to come later!).

One of the women then went to the back of the shop to get a tattoo. Brazil and the other woman stayed in the front of the shop, waiting.

From that point on, stories diverge. The way the defense tells the story, the non-tattoo woman waiting in the front of the store heard a noise that made her uncomfortable about the treatment of the other woman. So she drifted back to the tattoo-making area to check on the situation. In doing so, she received a reprimand from the shopkeeper. The rule is that only tattoo patients can be in the back of the shop.

Tensions racheted up as the woman persisted in trying to reach the back of the store. No, you can't go back there, scolded the shopkeeper.

Then Brazil intervened on behalf of his companions, setting up a confrontation with the shopkeeper. In the telling of Brazil's attorney, G. Allen Dale, Brazil was insulted in a way that could only escalate matters. The shopkeeper, says Dale, shouted the following at Brazil: "Fuck you, nigger!"

In testimony this morning, the shopkeeper, Francis Peyton, told a different version of events, one in which Brazil acted belligerently and screamed at him---"Fuck you, man!"---when he tried to enforce the rules of the parlor. After that, says Peyton, Brazil got physical, pushing him and setting off the fight that landed this entire moment in a court of law.

As to the pissing issue, Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Dillon asked Peyton if he was certain that the former at-large councilmember had, in fact, made a puddle on the floor: Are you sure he wasn't just emptying a water bottle? asked the prosecutor. Peyton responded that he was sure, given "from where it was coming and just the smell. For me it was easy to identify."

Dale said that the shop employees "beat the piss" out of his client, noting that he had to seek medical treatment for his injuries.

More updates to come.

Reporting by Mike DeBonis from the courthouse.

South Los Angeles grocery magnate George Torres first hit my journo-radar in 2005. At the time, I was working as a staff writer at L.A. Weekly. I wrote a story about one of Torres’ associates.

As I was pursuing Torres, so were the feds. The chase had been going on for about 25 years, and in 2007, he was indicted on RICO charges, including conspiracy to commit murder, bribery of a public official, tax evasion, harboring illegal aliens. Torres is a multimillionaire and an immigrant success story, a once-in-a-generation figure shrouded in menacing barrio lore. He is best known as the former real estate partner of Horacio Vignali, whose drug dealer son received a last minute grant of clemency from President Clinton in 2000.

Along with other journalists and L.A. crime enthusiasts, I waited impatiently for Torres’ day in court. Several months after the indictment, however, I left the area and the L.A. Weekly to move back east, where I took a job with the Baltimore City Paper, which proceeded to lay me off in February 2009.

Torres’ trial started March 24, and I wasn’t going to miss it. I flew out to Los Angeles on frequent flyer miles donated by my mother to cover this trial.

Los Angeles City Beat, razor thin at less than 30 pages, recently published a lengthy feature by me previewing the trial and delving into the background of the case, including the theory that Torres, in addition to his other alleged sins, is a drug kingpin.

On fumes in a horrific media meltdown, City Beat had agreed to pay me a modest fee for trial coverage. I was out there on assignment crashing on a friend's couch, hoping to break even.

The case was receiving national attention. The Wall Street Journal wrote a curtain opener after my feature story appeared. A Los Angeles Times reporter showed up in court on the first day, clutching a copy of my article that he was reading in an effort to figure out what was going on. The Associated Press was sitting next to me in court. I had the edge on these guys.

Then it happened.

On the third day of trial, March 27, the text message came from my editor and friend at the City Beat. "Call me as soon as you get this." I knew something was wrong, and my hunch proved correct, as he informed me the paper was folding. Not next week, or soon thereafter, but that day. Stunned, I got off the phone and got back into the courtroom. Witnesses were describing how Torres ran millions of dollars in cash through his popular Numero Uno grocery stores and paid his illegal immigrant employees in cash, while surrounding himself with violent thugs and drug traffickers. I finished out the day and got drunk that night. In the morning I got up and wrote this story, which the City Beat graciously agreed to pay me for, and which the Pasadena Weekly, a sister publication, graciously agreed to publish.

I'm home now, back in D.C. The trial is still going on. Before I left I told the guy from the Los Angeles Times a few things about the case. I hope they let him come back to court to cover it.

---Jeffrey Anderson

Left-wing FMLN presidential candidate Mauricio Funes has declared victory in El Salvador. The candidate had campaigned in Washington, since there are an estimated 133,000 Salvadorans in the area. Salvadorans are the largest immigrant group in the metro area.

Funes was a widely respected talk show host who became a new kind of FMLN candidate – more moderate, less strident than candidates in previous years. Several members of the local FMLN committee went down to El Salvador to vote---absentee voting is not allowed---and to serve as
election observers.

The FMLN was a guerrilla movement during the 1980s, formed to bring down a repressive right-wing government that maintained order in part by deploying death squads throughout the country. The civil war cost 75,000 lives and featured some of the more horrific massacres and assassinations of the decade. The war ended in 1992 with peace accords that legalized the FMLN as a political party.

But in the 17 years since the war, that new political party hadn’t managed to capture the presidency. Congress, yes, and countless City Halls. But even as so many other countries in Latin America turned
left – even Nicaragua has re-elected its revolution-era president – El Salvador remained resolutely under the control of right-wing presidents.

If you thought the Obama presidency was changing the face of Washington, just think what this will mean for San Salvador. “There’s going to be a new president from the party the United States poured
almost $6 billion into defeating,” says Geoff Thale of the Washington Office on Latin America. “And among his senior advisers and on his cabinet are going to be people who were guerrilla commanders and community organizers and union activists in El Salvador 20 years ago.”

Thale worked against U.S. support for the Salvadoran regime during the civil war. He says the change in government is the result of years of hard work – there and here. “In the United States there’s a whole history of an activist and solidarity movement that tried to defend human rights and open political space,” he says. “And the people we worked with and defended are about to assume power in the country. It’s a tribute to the long-term commitment of the people there and
their friends and allies here.”

El Salvador has one of the highest murder rates in the world – second only to Iraq – and a gang network that terrorizes not just San Salvador but also Columbia Heights and Prince George’s County. The outgoing president, Tony Saca, promised to use an “iron fist” in dealing with
the problem, but the violence has only increased. Getting the epidemic of violence under control will be one of the most serious challenges to the new president.

---Tanya Snyder

At 1:14 p.m., Mayor Adrian M. Fenty held a press conference at D.C. police headquarters to announce that an arrest warrant had been issued for illegal Salvadoran immigrant Ingmar Guandique in the May 2001 murder of congressional intern Chandra Levy. The announcement has been widely anticipated since Feb. 20, when news accounts reported a break in the case.

Those accounts may have helped seal the arrest. According to arrest documents [PDF] filed in D.C. Superior Court, Guandique, who is now incarcerated for other attacks, "heard a recent news report on the radio, broadcasting that he would be arrested soon for the Levy murder. [A witness] said that Guandique became very anxious and said something to the effect of, 'Fuck, it's over. They got me now. What am I gonna do?'"

Guandique told the witness that when detectives came to arrest him, "he was going to escape by starting a fire with a battery and tissue to cause a distraction."

The arrest stems from Guandique's own jailhouse ramblings. The new evidence in the case comes mainly from other inmates and people who have heard Guandique talk about the Levy murder. D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier says that these witnesses have been thoroughly vetted.

Read More "Guandique to Be Arrested in Chandra Levy Case" »

Peter Nickles' average day lasted longer than yours: He got up at 4:30 a.m. and went for his traditaional swim. Nickles, famous for marthoning and triathloning---and also Blackberrying, even at 70!---has had trouble with his knees in recent days, forcing him to quit running. After embarkring on more biking and swimming, however, "my knees are feeling better," he says. 

There could be a comeback!

By Mike DeBonis

More on City Administrator Dan Tangherlini's budget powwows. Post lunch, the city's top day-to-day manager had three additional rounds of discussions with agency directors on money---first with the Office of Property Management (OPM). "We need to find savings everywhere we can," said Tangherlini to OPM Director Robin-Eve Jasper. "We're doing to look to you for a lot of help."

More than an hour later, the brass from the Fire and Emergency Medical Services agency arrived---Chief Dennis Rubin and two assistants, all of whom are gloriously mustachioed white guys. Dan Tan's message to Rubin: "What is the core mission and function? What are the things that protect lives? What are the things that we've inherited, longstanding practices that we can look at?"

Just before a reporter for Average Day got kicked out of the room, Rubin said, in describing possible savings, "We feel like there's somewhere between $3 and $5 million in auto accidents." Now, does figure encompass departmental vehicles? Don't know---we got the hook.

Dan Tan is now deep in a skull session with University of the District of Columbia executives, including new President Allen Sessoms.

By Mike DeBonis

No, not on the political front, stupid. On the technology front.

Hizzoner long ago made a name for himself as a BlackBerryholic. One for general city business, one for critical, emergency alerts from police Chief Cathy Lanier and other public safety biz; and a third! for personal stuff.

Now here comes At-Large Councilmember Michael A. Brown, leaving a council hearing carrying a similar bounty of gizmos. The boundaries for Brown's three BlackBerrys go as follows: One for council business, one for the business of his firm, Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge, and one for personal affairs. Too much!

By Mike DeBonis