District Men Plead Guilty to Charges in 2013 Killing, Admit Shooting Victim in Southeast Washington

            WASHINGTON – Carlos Parks, 19, and Troy Robinson, 20, both of Washington, D.C., pled guilty today to charges stemming from the shooting death of a man in June 2013 in Southeast Washington, Acting U.S. Attorney Vincent H. Cohen, Jr. announced.

            Parks pled guilty in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia to second-degree murder while armed for the death of Tywayne Thompson. The plea, which is contingent on the Court’s approval, calls for 12 to 24 years of incarceration. Robinson pled guilty in the same court to the charge of voluntary manslaughter while armed for the same murder.  His plea, also contingent on the Court’s approval, is for 10 to 15 years of incarceration.  Both defendants are to be sentenced on Nov. 6, 2015, by the Honorable Jennifer Anderson.

            According to the government’s evidence, on June 24, 2013, at approximately 1:20 a.m., Parks and Robinson were outside in the Potomac Gardens Housing Complex in the 700 block of 12^th Street SE. At that time, Parks and Robinson were each armed with semi-automatic pistols.  A few minutes later, they approached Mr. Thompson, 25, who was also outside in the Potomac Gardens Housing Complex. They began to speak with him.

            Robinson then began shooting at Mr. Thompson.  At least one bullet from Robinson’s gun hit the victim. Parks then also began shooting at Mr. Thompson, and at least one bullet from Parks’s gun hit Mr. Thompson in his buttocks and exited through his abdomen. Mr. Thompson was taken by ambulance to a local hospital, where he died as a result of the wound from shot fired by Parks through his buttocks and abdomen. Mr. Thompson was unarmed, and neither defendant was acting in self-defense.

            In announcing the guilty pleas, Acting U.S. Attorney Cohen commended the work of the detectives of the Criminal Investigations Division Homicide Branch, crime scene officers, and the First Police District of the Metropolitan Police Department.  He also expressed appreciation to those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Marcia Rinker, La June Thames, M. Laverne Forrest, David Foster, and Michael Hailey of the Victim/Witness Unit; former Paralegal Specialist Mia Beamon; Paralegal Specialist Sandra Lane; and Litigation Technology Specialist Leif Hickling.  Finally, he praised the efforts of former Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Kravis, who investigated and indicted the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Liebman and Christopher Bruckmann, who prosecuted the case.