The last of three Metropolitan Police Department officers has been cleared by a department trial board of any wrongdoing as the officers' whistleblower case against the city moves forward.
Benjamin Fetting was found not guilty last week on all charges, according to the police union.
Officers Fetting, Jose Rodriguez and Andrew Zabavsky claim they were wrongfully placed under investigation by MPD after refusing to say under oath that the city's alcohol breath-analysis equipment was fully functional. In a complaint filed last September, they said they were instructed in 2010 by prosecutors to not answer questions when giving testimony in court regarding the accuracy of the analysis equipment used by MPD. At the time, the officers, who were responsible for a large portion of the city's drunk driving arrests, had learned that the equipment had not been properly calibrated for years.
After they ignored the request, in July 2010 Zabavsky and Rodriguez learned they had been placed under investigation for not following proper procedures during a prior DUI arrest, according to the complaint. It also said they were placed on an internal list of officers whose testimony would not be supported by the Attorney General’s Office.
Fetting testified in a September 2010 trial, and afterward prosecutor Tamara Barnett “berated Officer Fetting about his testimony and told him that he should not have answered questions about the [breath-analysis] devices,” the complaint said. The following month he was barred from training for, and a promotion to, the department’s DUI Program, according to the complaint.
In a statement to the media, the police union said the department's case against the officers was based largely on the information provided by OAG attorneys, including the claim of one attorney who said Fetting made a series of statements regarding a DUI case during a meeting.
"Not only was the attorney’s testimony found to be 'mistaken,' the officer was able to document that the OAG even made up the date of the meeting," the police union stated. "While the Trial Board decision generously described the attorney’s testimony as only 'mistaken' and a result of 'distraction' and a heavy case load, at the end of the day — OAG tried to end the career of an honest, hard working officer through misleading facts."
Rodriguez and Zabavsky had been previously cleared of wrongdoing, internal documents show.
A D.C. man was sentenced to 60 years in prison for the slaying of a honor roll student and the wounding of a second teenager.
Kwan Kearney, 20, was convicted by a D.C. jury in December of charges of first-degree murder while armed, assault with intent to kill while armed, aggravated assault while armed, and a firearms offense.
Prosecutors said Kearney killed 17-year-old Joseph Sharps Jr. on the night of Nov. 8, 2010. The killing was random, prosecutors said.
Joseph, an honor roll student and varsity basketball player at Spingarn High School, had just finished his music homework and walked to a gas station with a friend to buy cigareettes.
While Sharps was talking on his cell phone, Kearney bumped into Joseph and accused him of reaching for something. Joseph shrugged as if to say that he had no idea what Kearney was talking about.
That's when Kearney pulled out a Colt .38-caliber revolver and shot Joseph in the belly, prosecutors said.
Kearney kept firing, striking Joseph and Joseph's friend in the leg.
D.C. Attorney General Irvin Nathan has signed off on the legal reasoning behind a ballot initiative that seeks to ban corporate contributions to District political campaigns.
"The proposed measure is a proper subject for an initiative under District law," Nathan wrote in a letter to D.C.'s elections board, adding that previous Supreme Court opinions indicate the proposal is within the scope of the Constitution.
A band of D.C. political activists is seeking a citywide vote on the proposal to ban all corporate giving to campaigns, transition and inaugration committees, legal defense groups and constituent services funds. If approved, the ban would more closely align D.C. with federal campaign finance rules and those in nearly two dozen states.
The proper place of corporate dollars in politics has been a legal flashpoint since 2010. That year, the Supreme Court ruled that, under the First Amendment, companies and individuals alike could engage in political speech.
In his letter, Nathan said that ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, often derided by President Obama, did not strike down a 2003 Supreme Court opinion that a ban on direct corporate contributions was constitutional.
Even with Nathan's approval, which the attorney general said was limited to the legal merits of the proposal and didn't reflect his personal opinion on the measure, organizers have a long way to go before they can even get District residents to vote on the matter.
To get the proposal before voters in November, organizers will have to collect signatures from 5 percent of D.C.'s registered voters within 180 days of the elections board approving the activists' request for petitions.
A 75-year-old man was killed by a fire at an abandoned commercial building in Woodbridge, officials said.
William Maybin sustained severe burns in the fire and later succumed to his injuries Thursday evening at an area trauma burn hospital, Prince William County police said.
Police said they responded to the 13400 block of Jefferson Davis Highway around 2:52 p.m. Thursday to assist fire and rescue units with the incident.
The investigation found that the structure was being used as shelter by homeless people, and Maybin had been residing in the structure, police said.
The fire appears to be accidental, authorities said.
Testimony is continuing Friday in the murder trial of George Huguely V, a University of Virginia lacrosse player accused of beating his ex-girlfriend to death in May 2010.
Huguely's trial in Charlottesville Circuit Court for the death of 22-year-old Yeardley Love began Monday.
Friends of Huguely, of Chevy Chase, and Love, of Cockeysville, have testified about the pair's turbulent relationship, detailing several acts of violence in the months before Love's death.
Police officers and paramedics have also testified about their response to the crime scene. More police officers and medical experts are expected to testify Friday. See the latest updates below.
A Culpeper police officer shot and killed a woman Thursday, officials with the Virginia State Police and the Town of Culpeper said.
Patricia Cook, 54, of Culpeper, died at the scene, officials said.
Thursday at about 10 a.m., Culpeper police received a call about a suspicious woman in a Jeep Wrangler in a parking lot in the 300 block of North East Street, officials said. A police officer responded and started talking with Cook.
When the officer tried to get Cook's identification, Cook suddenly closed her driver's side window, which trapped the officer's arm. Cook then started driving, dragging the officer, police said.
The officer repeatedly told Cook to stop driving, but she refused and shots were fired, police said. The vehicle wrecked in the 200 block of North East Street.
The officer, a five-year veteran, suffered minor injuries and has been put on administrative leave in accordance with standard policy, officials said. Virginia State Police are investigating the incident with assistance from the Culpeper Town Police and Culpeper County Sheriff's Office.
Prince George’s County lawmakers have resolved to do everything in their power to attract the FBI to locate new headquarters in the county, including hire a lobbyist.
The county has retained Holland & Knight LLP to lobby congress and the General Services Administration, the federal government’s leasing arm, officials announced Thursday.
County Executive Rushern Baker also announced the signing of a new resolution, along with Council Chair womanAndrea Harrison, D-Bladensburg, declaring Prince George’s the perfect site for the FBI’s new home and touting the county’s undeveloped land around Metro stations.
The resolution will be sent to Maryland’s congressional delegation, the FBI, the General Services Administration, and others state and federal officials.
“Prince George’s County has several locations that are perfect for the FBI,” Baker said. “Along with our congressional delegation, we are approaching this process with a united front and will demonstrate to the federal government that Prince George’s County should be the new home and headquarters for the FBI.”
Baker also announced the creation of an inter-agency task force that will meet regularly to discuss possible sites for the FBI to make their new home.
Prince George's faces competition for the FBI headquarters from Loudoun and Fairfax counties.
Snow might come to the D.C. area this weekend, but anyone hoping for another Snowmageddon will be disappointed.
The National Weather Service reported there's a possibility of rain and snow in the D.C. area from about 4 a.m. to 9 a.m. Saturday and after 3 p.m. (only a chance of rain is in the forecast for the middle of the day). Forecasters also predict a chance of snow Saturday evening, primarily before 9 p.m.
Little or no accumulation is expected in D.C. and the closest suburbs, and there's a possibility of less than half an inch of accumulation in areas to the north and west of the city.
After a high temperature today of 51 degrees, Saturday's high will drop to about 42, with the mercury tumbling to a high of 32 on Sunday, forecasters said.
Any attempts to build a snowman this weekend will probably have to be saved for another time.
If you own a home in the District, you could be elegible for a piece of the $40 million pie the city won as part of a massive, multi-state suit against the mortgage industry.
The city's attorney general announced on Thursday that local homeowners are eligible to win back some mortgage principal reductions and mortgage refinancing savings under a national settlement that state and federal enforcement agencies have reached with the five leading bank mortgage servicers.
If you qualify, how much you get depends on how many homeowners choose to participate in the principal reduction and refinancing programs. D.C. homeowners who lost their homes to foreclosure betweeb 2008 and 2011 may qualify for cash payments, and the District government will receive a $4.6 million payment, according to Attorney General Irvin B. Nathan.
The total value of the settlement nationally is about $25 billion.
Borrowers may qualify for benefits under the settlement if their mortgages have been serviced by Bank of America, Citi, GMAC/Ally, JPMorgan Chase, or Wells Fargo.
Borrowers seeking information about their eligibility for settlement benefits may contact their servicers at these numbers:
Bank of America 1-877-488-7814
Citi 1-866-272-4749
Chase 1-866-372-6901
GMAC/Ally 1-800-766-4622
Wells Fargo 1-800-288-3212
The settling servicers, which control 60 percent of the market, have agreed to sweeping reforms to their foreclosure-related practices as part of the settlement. The settlement resolves only civil enforcement claims relating to the origination, servicing, and foreclosure of mortgage loans. It does not address liability regarding the securitization of mortgages.
Former parks director and gay rights activist Clark Ray has been named the first district-wide athletic director, in a bid to unite D.C. Public Schools and charter schools on the playing field.
A spokesman for the Office of the State Superintendent for Education, which will house the bridged program, confirmed Ray's appointment (which The Washington Blade first reported). We'll speak with Ray shortly about his plans for school sports.
In the meantime, however, a cursory backround check: Ray was the director of the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation under former Mayor Adrian Fenty, but was abruptly fired in 2009. (Ironically, his replacement was a DCPS employee with no parks experience.)
From an Examiner report at the time:
The mayor would not get into specifics on Ray's firing, except to say that "sometimes you need a new set of eyes." He also would not say whether the removal was tied to a lawsuit filed by a former Ray deputy who alleges he was dismissed for questioning why Fenty's 9-year-old twin boys were playing in an 8-and-under basketball league.
Ray also ran (unsuccessfully) in 2010 for the at-large D.C. Council seat retained by incumbent Phil Mendelson. He worked as Tipper Gore's chief of staff during the 2000 presidential campaign, and she returned the favor by supporting him at at least one fundraiser during his council bid.
Mayor Vincent Gray announced the districtwide AD position a couple months ago, explaining that it would enable charter schools — which enroll 40 percent of the city's public school students — to compete alongside DCPS in events like the Turkey Bowl.
The new position is also likely to make charter school sports run a little more smoothly. Under the current system, charter schools must apply for a sanction to play any team outside the D.C. Public Charter School Board’s purview.
That has become an issue, charter leaders say, when teams are set to play in an out-of-state tournament but DCPS’ computers go down — or DCPS loses the papers — and the team can’t play.
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