One of the big mysteries in the Pershing Park case centers around the gaps in the radio dispatches during the mass arrests on Sept. 27, 2002. Plaintiffs lawyers have long argued in U.S. District Court that the tapes turned over by the District contained gaps at the crucial time of the arrests.

When 400 individuals are rounded up and arrested in a park,  it seems reasonable that there would be some police radio activity.

For a time at least, the Office of the Attorney General defended those tapes as being a complete recording of the infamous police activities in Pershing Park. Exhibit A: The affidavit of Denise Alexander [PDF].

At the time, Alexander worked as a training instructor with the District's Office of Unified Communications. In her sworn declaration, she stated: "I did not detect anything technically deficient with the recordings."

Plaintiffs attorneys countered with deposition testimony from D.C. Police Inspector James Crane [PDF] who stated that the tapes were indeed faulty.

So how did Alexander get it so wrong?

In February, Alexander was deposed. She admitted that she did not write nor edit a word of her false affidavit. In fact, that affidavit was given to her to sign by the D.C. Police Department's Deputy General Counsel Ron Harris.

According to court records and sources familiar with the matter, Alexander is clear that she did not understand or have knowledge of the allegations surrounding the problematic tapes. She was just happy that Harris had given her the extra work assignment. She was paid overtime for her tape review.

It appears that Alexander did not actually review the tapes for gaps. In an e-mail she had sent to Harris, it seems she only checked to see if the time stamps were accurate. When she was given Crane's testimony to review, she admitted that she didn't quite understand it. Crane's refutation of her affidavit may have been too technical.

Alexander admitted that she didn't even understand her affidavit. She just signed it.

The one person in charge of that affidavit, who actually understood it, and who had been aware of the controversy surrounding the faulty tapes was D.C. Police Deputy General Counsel Ron Harris.

*file photo by Darrow Montgomery.

Yesterday, the D.C. Police Department announced that they had arrested Reginald Rogers for the shooting death of  Calvin Woodland on Jan. 27, 2010. So how did police detectives identify Rogers as the shooter? According to court records filed today, detectives got help from a few witnesses and...Facebook.

On Jan. 27, just after 10:30 p.m., officers arrived at a parking lot along the 800 Block of Barnaby Street SE. They found Woodland lying between two parked cars in front of 832 Barnaby suffering "from multiple gunshot wounds to his body." After being transported to Prince George's County Hospital, Woodland was pronounced dead at 11:20 p.m.

An autopsy concluded Woodland had died from two gunshot wounds to the back.

Detectives located a witness who was in the parking lot of the Gregory Apartments on Barnaby. The witness was with Woodland and two others when "two masked men armed with guns approached them," according to the police document filed in D.C. Superior Court. The document goes on to state:

"When the masked gunmen approached and brandished their weapons, two of the people that were standing with [Woodland] and [the witness] ran away. [The witness] said that one of the gunmen was armed with a semi-automatic handgun and the second gunment was armed with a revolver."

Despite the fact that the first gunman was wearing a mask, the witness was able to recognize the man. The mask did not cover his entire face. The witness was able to give a detailed description of the gunman. The gunman, the witness states, told them "to turn around and face the gate that they were standing in front of." The two gun men then robbed Woodland and the witness. They then opened fire on Woodland and the witness. Both tried to flee. As they were running, the witness stated that he heard Woodland exclaim: "I'm hit."

A second witness came forward to say that he had learned that one of the people involved in the robbery-murder was named "Rockem-Regg" and had discussed the murder on Facebook as "Rockem-Regg."

The comments may have been removed. City Desk checked out his wall and found nothing except a tribute to J-Rock and dull smack talk:

*"WEN DEY DNT C ME ON DA BLOCK I AINT TRYNA HIDE, I BLEND N WIT DA 'A' IM CAMOFLOUGE............ U DIGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

*"shyt fukkd up im ji stressn 2 hard right now i think i c it round da corner........TOO MEEE...."

*"MY GATEWAY 2 HELL SEEMS LIKE ITS CONSTANTLY OPEN... DA REAPOR IS CALLN SO IM CONSTANTLY SMOKN(I NEED 2 CLEAR MY HEAD OF DEEZ EVIL THOUGHTS N TEACH DA YOUNGNZ OF HIGHLAND DA SHYT I WAS TOUGHT) N I PUT FAITH N MY GLOCK CUZ I KNO ITS GON BUST....TYEEEE TOO ME MOE KILL"

Sweet stuff. More importantly Rockem Regg matched the first witness'description down to a tattoo of the number 8 under his left eye. Still, at first, the witness could not ID Rogers from a photo array. In a subsequent interview, the witness confessed that he knew the man and was scared of him. He then identified Rogers from a photo lineup.

The witness went on to explain a possible motive for the killing. Woodland had told the witness that he and Rogers/Rockem "were involved in a fight after [Woodland] stole a car from someone affiliated with [Rogers/Rockem]" a month before the shooting.

During an interview with detectives, Rogers admitted that his nickname was Rockem Regg and that he sells PCP out of the rear alley along the 700 block of Atlantic Street SE. Rogers admitted that people thought he had killed Woodland because he had assaulted him a month prior to the shooting. He said they fought after Woodland had allegedly stolen a car from a "Dipper Head" and that was bad for his "business." Rogers said he heard that Woodland had talked about killing him.

Rogers said he was just down the street when Woodland was killed. He denied killing Woodland.

On Dec. 19, Det. Michael Baylor pulled a gun during a snowball fight at 14th and U Streets NW. That day, witnesses produced photos and video of the incident. Even Police Chief Cathy Lanier felt compelled to publicly admonish Baylor for his gun-toting antics. But it seems the Baylor case has yet to be completed by the department's internal affairs.

Police Spokesperson Gwen Crump tells City Desk in an e-mail: "He is still on non contact status. The matter is in the internal review process."

The D.C. Police Department is notorious about taking its time investigating alleged police misconduct. But this is getting absurd. When City Desk called Baylor's office at the Second District police station, we were informed that Baylor was "on leave" until next week. Is this just a vacation?

"We're not real clear on where [the case] is," says police union chief Kristopher Baumann. He adds that Lanier's public comments may have "poisoned the case." It is his understanding that the police were still conducting interviews in the case just before the last big snow storm.

Crump went on to state that Baylor's case was a personnel matter and that she couldn't comment further. In other words, City Desk readers do not have a right to know about what the department does with Baylor and his very public case.

2:28 p.m. Update: A cop source familiar with the case says that a finding of misconduct against Baylor will "likely be sustained.".

On Feb. 8, plaintiffs in the last remaining Pershing Park case filed a request that would broaden the scope of the U.S. District Court's inquiry into the case's discovery abuse. Plaintiffs attorneys are asking the judge to look into the alleged issues with the D.C. Police Department's video coverage of the mass arrests at Pershing Park on Sept. 27, 2002.

U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan is already set to hire a forensic examiner to determine how the running resume  (the department's own reported log of events) went missing, and how the department's radio dispatches went dead around the time the arrests were made.

The problematic video tapes turned over by the Office of the Attorney General may be the latest example of the discovery abuses. So far, AG Peter Nickles has thrown up some really lame excuses for why the video footage appears so corrupted.

The attorneys in the Chang case write:

"This video footage, produced in both videotape and DVD format, contains numerous anomalies that suggest it has been edited or otherwise tampered with. A forensic analysis of the original video recordings is, therefore, necessary to determine the origin and extent of any such modification or spoliation."

The District had recently testified that the video recordings had not been edited and were recorded by Sgt. Donald Yates. Yet, the District's witness, Inspector Brian Bray admitted that Yates could not have possibly filmed all the sequences since he appears in some footage.

Plaintiffs lawyers go one to dissect the video problems point by point. One of the most startling issues that has come to light is the government's use of "different time-stamps" and a "non-linear time progression." Lawyers also found that there is "an extended gap during the time of the mass arrests in Pershing Park."

The two different time stamps suggest that it's possible the tapes were altered or edited. "At worst, this discrepancy suggests that the IMF video footage has been edited and certain footage added or deleted," the plaintiffs lawyers write.

The lawyers go on to state that some of the video footage appears out of order, jumping back and forth through time (kind of like an episode of "Lost" D.C. Police-style):

"There is no apparent explanation as to how Sergeant Yates recorded events at 8:15 a.m., then traveled back in time and recorded events nearly an hour earlier from 7:21 a.m. to 7:23 a.m. and then returned to 8:15 a.m. and continued filming, unless the video has been altered."

There is also the problem with the gap in the tape. The video produced by the OAG "contains no video footage for a period of nearly 39 minutes (the longest gap in the Video other than that over the lunch hour) during which MPD and other law enforcement officers began mass arresting people in Pershing Park."

As the lawyers point out, um, this is the critical time period. It's astonishing that the government would even hand over such a video. According to the plaintiffs' filing, the District's explanation for the 39-minute gap is simple: Sgt. Yates was a really crummy director who may have been great at recording tons of b-roll of bored looking residents but failed to deliver at the crucial moment---the moment when his own department decided to arrest everyone in the park. The District has claimed that he was "distracted" and "wasn't aware the arrests had taken place."

Wow.

How could any police officer---let alone an official with a video camera---not realize that the arrests of 400 individuals were taking place?

The plaintiffs lawyers write: "the Court should order a forensic examination of the IMF Video to confirm that no video was recorded during this critical period of time."

*overused file photo by Darrow Montgomery.

Today, she was arraigned on one misdemeanor APO count. After her arraignment, she was released. She had been held for nearly 36 hours. Her next court date is in early March. [UPDATE, 5 P.M.: Her name is Maria Lewis, not Louis.]

"I expect her to be fully exonerated," says her defense attorney Janai Reed.

"you're not a *real* political prisoner until you get a facebook group."

So true.

The gist from members: This. Is. So. Fucked. Up. Here's a sampling from Maria's freedom fighters:

* "From snowmaggedon to Greece, fuck the police!"

* "Missing you! Stay strong & organize with them prisoners."

* "pshhh felony charges.....FTP..... you dont bring a gun to a snowball fight"

Aside from posting support, the Facebook group may want to pivot toward providing, um, legal support. Like tracking down witnesses, collecting donations for attorney fees, etc.

Unless, Louis Lewis doesn't need any help at all. Maybe her case will be thrown out. We're checking on her status.

UPDATE, 5 P.M.: Her name is Maria Lewis, not Louis.

With the District's unemployment rate reaching 12.1 percent in December, any government job opening is sure to attract a good number of resumes. For the many job hunters out there, let us point you to a particularly cushy assignment.

The D.C. Police Department is looking to hire a "Freedom Of Information Act Specialist." The job's pay range is between $42,000 and $54,000. The work hours are a pretty standard 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. We can't think of an easier job opportunity! You have one more day to apply!

You would essentially be managing a black hole---the place where FOIA requests disappear never to be seen again. Since the departure of the beloved Sgt. Joe Gentile, the police's FOIA operation appears to be handled by a very mean robot who simply spits out form letter rejections.

This part of the job description says it all:

"The incumbent will also be responsible for developing and preparing routine written responses to requests filed under the FOIA Acts, and protecting individuals privacy in accordance with the PA relative to the dissemination of information."

In translation, can you spit out form letters denying FOIA requests? If so, here are the reasons you should get used to citing:

1) Your FOIA is being rejected because it has been deemed overly broad in scope.
2) Your FOIA is being rejected because it involves "work product."
3) Your FOIA is being rejected because it concerns personnel records.
4) Your FOIA is being rejected because it concerns issues related to Homeland Security.

Apply today!

*file photo by Darrow Montgomery.

All this is to say: this issue has been old news for some time. Even Alexander's allegation is old---it happened last week, an eternity for a big city government. And yet we get this really lame response from Fenty spokesperson Mafara Hobson. WaPo paraphrased Hobson saying: "The administration of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) is looking into the incident."

Really?

What they mean to say is this: We're not looking into this incident. In fact, we are hoping this incident will go away and that reporters never bring it up again. And if they do bring it up again, we will tell them no comment, that the investigation is ongoing.

When it became known that an inmate had been wrongly released from the D.C. Jail recently, city officials issued an anonymous statement that falsely blamed D.C. Superior Court staff for the screwup. I e-mailed Hobson to find out if "city officials" was actually Hobson and if she wanted to add to her statement in anyway. I never got a response from the mayor's spokesperson. Maybe she thought the issue would just go away.

Must Reads:

The Washington Teacher questions a pro-Rhee add in WaPo by the Federal City Council. Amazing.

Prince of Petworth reports that Bloomingdale is getting a neighborhood bar.

Last week, Tira Williams was wrongly released from the D.C. Jail.  The Department of Corrections has yet to come up with a legit excuse for her release. But maybe there's one excuse that everyone can get behind.

The DOC should just come out and say this: Ms. Williams was just really annoying and therefore we felt her early release from our facility would benefit the other inmates and staff. We regret any problems or embarrassment this decision may have caused.

The DOC then could produce the D.C. Police Department's written account of her latest caper filed in D.C. Superior Court. On December 1, Williams was busted for shoplifting at the Minnesota Ave. NE Safeway.

The officer wrote that when he arrived at the Safeway, a security guard informed him that he had observed Williams place Gain laundry detergent in her jacket. He then told the cop that when he approached her, Williams slapped him twice on the left side of his face. She then walked out of the store, dropped the merch and fled.

The officer and the security guard quickly spotted Williams on Dix Street NE. As the officer approached Williams, she reportedly stated: "What the fuck you want Po Po?"

The officer replied: "What is going on here ma'am?"

Williams then stated: "Fuck you and that flashlight security guard."

Damn.

The officer reported that he smelled alcohol on Williams' breath. She was clutching a 750 ML bottle of Manischewitz. The officer then asked for her name.

Williams replied: "I'am Tira, you know and the Police Department [know] who the fuck I am. I don't talk to feds."

The officer told Williams that she was under arrest. This did not sit well with Williams, who stated: "I ain't under no arrest, you are under arrest."

When the officer tried to place her under arrest, Williams wiggled free and assumed a fighting stance. The officer wrote: "A struggle ensued as she was in possession of the listed glass bottle, I grabbed my pepper spray and sprayed two short [bursts] to [Williams'] facial area." The officer then took Williams to the ground, forced her hands behind her back, and cuffed her.

Do you think Williams was cool behind bars?

What I want to know: Has Gray's very public waffling on the subject hurt him? Has it slowed down legislation as everyone at the Wilson Building waits for Gray to make his decision? And what other local leaders should people be pushing to run? Yesterday's Post story on Gray sure didn't help him. What was he thinking, what were his advisers thinking?

The Washington Teacher gives a thumbs down to Rhee's interview with Anderson Cooper last week [video link]. Blogger writes:

"Just more of the same of Rhee on her soap box with unedited teacher bashing . Many who watched Michelle Rhee on Cooper's Thursday evening show were infuriated about the production of 'What's Next -Education ?' If you were watching, the answer to that question is more of the same. Stay tuned for more firings, more firings and more firings by Chancellor Michelle Rhee."

And Now, Anacostia reports on the opening of Big Chair Coffee. DCist was there too. And so was our resident real estate expert! The shop looks like it sure beats the grocery-store Starbucks.

The Heights Life has the rundown on Columbia Heights' top Netflix rentals. Pretty mainstream! Benjamin Button? WTF. Seven Pounds? Slumdog Millionaire? Not very hipster! Where's the fuckin' mumblecore!?

Frozen Tropics has the agenda for tonight's PSA 102 meeting covering youth violence.

The report states that a woman woke up Sunday morning to find a man in her bed. The man was laying beside her, "hugging her." He then began "to thrust several times" against the woman until she began to scream. The perp then fled the house.

There were no signs the perp broke into the home.

We just called the school. This sounds like a false alarm. We asked the secretary who answered phone about the possible shooter and the lockdown. "I don't know about any of that," she says. "We just had a fire drill."

During a second call, an administrator stated that there was no shooter in the school.

Update 2:49 p.m. An impromptu press conference took place between police and school officials outside Spingarn.

Commander Lamar Greene says the incident started at around 11 a.m. A security guard on the second floor of the school noticed a light-skinned black male that she did not recognize as a student. It appeared that he may have had a handgun or she noticed the butt of a handgun sticking out of a pocket. This suspect ran further into the school. The security guard notified the school resource officers (D.C. Police cops). Greene says the police went "room by room" and "floor by floor." "We did not find any suspects at this time," Greene says.

The school now has additional security.

A DCPS official John Davis said "the right precautions were taken. Everything is going as it should go." He called the situation "very unusual." There is no evidence that someone brought in a weapon, Davis said.

The students are now back in class. A little more than 500 students attend Spingarn.

A few months ago, Det. Paul Hustler came forward and stated in his sworn affidavit that he had heard D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey give the order to arrest the 400 individuals in Pershing Park on Sept. 27, 2002. The testimony had contradicted the former chief's sworn-statements in which he denied ordering the arrests.

Ramsey has long since left the police department. He is now Philly's top cop. Kathy Patterson, the councilmember who led the investigation [PDF] into Pershing Park, is no longer in politics.

Even seven years later, the events of that day still provoke. Hustler's deposition cost the city big time. The District has agreed to pay Ramsey's attorney more than $100,000 in legal fees for three months worth of work--much of that work must concern Hustler's testimony. The AG Peter Nickles wasted more time and money filing a motion that essentially attacked Hustler's character. At the last hearing on the Pershing Park cases, U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan allowed defendants to depose Hustler. This will only cost the city more dough.

And yet, Hustler's testimony concerning Ramsey's alleged order is really, really old news. Another police official had pretty much said the same thing on Nov. 5, 2003.

Here is what Hustler stated in his affidavit in mid-November:

"I was standing about 8 to 9 feet away from Chief Ramsey and Assistant Chief Fitzgerald, with Assistant Chief Jordan and Assistant Chief Newsham standing around. At this time no arrests of those protesters had been made. As I walked closer, about 5 to 6 feet away from them, I heard Chief Ramsey say we're going to lock them up and teach them a lesson."

Here is what Captain Ralph McLean stated about the arrests at Pershing Park  in his testimony before the D.C. Council on Nov. 5, 2003:

"I remember a group that was involved in discussions, Chief Ramsey, Chief Jordan, Assistant Chief Fitzgerald, Chief Newsham. There were several other people. I think Joe Gentile was there for a while, but I'm not sure at what point he came and left. He came and went several times....The main discussion I remember was OK, we've got them, what are we going to do with them?"

McLean goes on to state:

"It was---in my mind---it was a lengthy discussion. It could have taken a minute or less, but there was a lot of back and forth between Chief Ramsey, Chief Newsham. Chief Jordan was particularly vocal."

McLean was then asked what Ramsey's said during the discussion:

"[Ramsey] ordered Assistant Chief Newsham to lock the protesters in Pershing Park up....It is very vivid in my memory....My recollection is pretty much that Chief Ramsey said, lock them up."

After the discussion broke up, McLean questioned Newsham about having to arrest everyone in the park:

"I said, 'OK, Chief, exactly what are we going to lock them up for?' And he stopped and he turned toward me and said, 'Well, what do we have?' I said, 'Well, the last group, they were definitely off their permit. We can lock them up for parading without a permit.' I said, 'But there were other people in the park. I don't know what we can do about that.' And he said, 'Well, you heard [Ramsey], we're locking them up.' I said, 'OK.'"

McLean said that no one conducting the department's internal investigation into Pershing Park interviewed him. "I thought it was kind of odd," he told the Council. "But, you know, that's not---that's not my place....I didn't understand why nobody had spoken to me."

*photo by Darrow Montgomery.

The No. 1 complaint of most D.C. Police officers isn't about stupid residents. Or even false alarms. Or, for that matter, thugs.

The rank and file, rather, love to bitch about their bosses. They've never made any real arrests. They're messing around with my days off. They don't let me do my job.

And that's where it usually ends. The grunts mutter something under their breath, always off the record, and go about their business.

Yet on Dec. 28 the old cop-vs.-white-shirt tension went a bit beyond its usual confines. Inside the D.C. Police Department's Special Operations Division (SOD), it exploded into threats of violence.

According to police records, Officer Steven Hebron had made the mistake of questioning why Captain Burt Henry had taken overtime assignments. Hebron allegedly believed Henry's use of overtime was unnecessary. The allegation did not sit well with Henry.

Henry spent a lot of time on Dec. 28 hunting down Hebron. Whoever was in his path got an earful. Marvin Spriggs was ready to leave the office on an assignment when Henry yelled for him to stop what he was doing and listen to his rant.

"As I walked over to him it was clear that he was upset by the look on his face," Spriggs wrote in his witness statement. "At this time, he pointed his finger toward me and stated, 'Tell your motherfucking boy to keep my name out of his mouth.'"

Spriggs stated that he then asked Henry which officer he was talking about. Henry replied: "That bitch Hebron! I'm going to fuck him up. I'm going to get him....Where is he?" Spriggs told the captain that Hebron was inside. "Capt. Henry then stormed inside looking for officer Hebron."

Hebron, in his own statement to police, stated that a fellow officer informed him that Henry was looking for him. He left the roll call room and entered the locker room, where he spotted Henry and another officer sitting on a couch. Henry then confronted the officer.

Hebron writes:

"Captain Henry stated, 'Listen motherfucker, what is this I been hearing about you telling people that I been cornering the market on overtime?' He then said that he would fuck me up and that this conversation is not the captain officer conversation, but a man to man conversation. He told me to consider myself lucky and that the next time it will be a captain to officer conversation....The captain was pointing with his finger in my face within close proximity, gesturing as if he wanted to fight me. I asked the captain to please stop talking to me in that tone. However he continued to move in my direction and follow me around the locker room."

The other officer, Louis Guerra, cut off Henry's rant. Guerra made his own formal statement to police officials. His statement confirms Hebron's testimony: "At one point Captain Henry called Officer Hebron a 'mother-fucker' and also said, 'I will fuck you up.'"

Guerra goes on to state:

"I got up off the couch and told the captain that he was out of line, and that he couldn't just turn his rank on and off like a light switch. I also told him that his demeanor did not represent his rank of the Metropolitan Police Department and that he should leave the locker room. After that he kept rambling on like a mad man and saying something like he did the best he could but that people did not appreciate him around here. He acted as if he was going thru some kind of break-down."

Although the incident is under investigation, Henry remains on duty. The investigation is being conducted by Henry's boss within SOD.

The police union has lobbied police officials that Henry should be removed from SOD and be required to undergo a psych review. "I have no comments," Henry tells City Desk when asked about the incident.

"If this were you, and I pulled up on the scene, you would be arrested. This should be a criminal investigation," says one officer in SOD.

The police union had e-mailed one police official, Alfred Durham,  several times concerning the incident. Durham told the union that Henry would not be sent for a psych evaluation. "If that was any police officer, he would be sent to a clinic ASAP," says the SOD officer.

Henry is currently in charge of the department's SWAT team.

"It's stunning that the department would leave him in that position," says union chief Kristopher Baumann. "It's certainly cause for alarm both for police officers and the citizens of the District of Columbia."

*photo by Darrow Montgomery.

Zachary Funke was the first person killed in the District in 2010. He was killed on January 2. An autopsy revealed that Funke was stabbed multiple times in the right side of his neck and chest, court records show. The next day, D.C. Police detectives would charge Terrance D. Brooks with the murder of Funke.

Court documents present a narrative of events that lead to Funke's murder and Brooks' arrest.

Detectives were able to find a witness who stated that they observed an altercation outside 1768 Mississippi Avenue SE between Funke and Brooks (who goes by the nickname "Uncle Roy"). The witness saw Brooks punch Funke. Individuals broke up the fight and Brooks was seen walking back to his home at 1798 Mississippi Avenue SE. The witness stated that they went back inside 1768. A short time later, they heard yelling outside.

The witness told detectives that they walked back outside and heard people shouting that Brooks had stabbed Funke. The witness "observed the decedent bleeding heavily from his torso, and then got inside his girlfriend's vehicle to go to the hospital" and then "observed Mr. Brooks standing nearby, and stated that it appeared Mr. Brooks had blood on his clothing."

The witness then "confronted Mr. Brooks about the stabbing...and told Mr. Brooks that [they] would call the police." Brooks then threatened the witness: if they called the police, he'd kill them too.

A second witness, according to the court records, also came forward to tell the detectives what they saw. The witness stated that Funke didn't throw a punch at Brooks during the first altercation and that Funke had tried to restrain Brooks. Funke was preparing to leave the area when Brooks came back. The witness tried to intervene when they saw Brooks move in close to Funke.

The witness stated that Brooks pulled out a knife and told them to move out of the way. They "then observed Mr. Brooks reach toward the decedent and stab him repeated in the torso area." The witness says that Funke told them that he could not believe that "Uncle Roy" had stabbed him.

The witness was able to ID Brooks from a photo array. "Who is that?" they were asked. They replied: "Terrance Dominic Brooks." "What did he do?" The witness replied: "Stabbed Ziggy."

A third witness also corroborated the narrative.

Det. Darin March writes in his statement before the court:

"During the course of the investigation, members of the Homicide Branch received information that Mr. Brooks was known to stay at 1798 Mississippi Avenue SE, Washington, D.C. On January 3, 2010, members of the Metropolitan Police Department responded to 1798 Mississippi Ave SE, and observed drops of what appeared to be fresh blood outside the only entrance to the apartment."

Brooks admitted to getting into a fight with Funke. But denied to police detectives that he had stabbed him. He was placed under arrest and charged with the murder.

*photo by Darrow Montgomery.