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Press Release

District Teenager Found Guilty of Charges in Two Murders Over Four-Month Period

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Columbia
Found Guilty of Killing Off-Duty Secret Service Officer in Robbery, and 15-Year-Old in Attack at Metro Station

            WASHINGTON – Maurice Bellamy, 19, of Washington, D.C., was found guilty by a jury today of two counts of first-degree murder while armed and other charges stemming from the separate killings of an off-duty United States Secret Service officer and a 15-year-old boy.

            The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu, Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), and Ron Pavlik, Chief of the Metro Transit Police.

            Bellamy was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder while armed, one count of armed robbery, and a weapons offense. The verdict followed a trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. The Honorable Juliet McKenna scheduled sentencing for July 20, 2018.

            The jury found that the murder of 15-year-old Davonte Washington was especially cruel, atrocious and heinous. The jurors also found that the murder of off-duty officer Arthur Earl Baldwin Jr. was committed during the course of a robbery. As a result, Bellamy could face sentences of life in prison with no possibility of release for each of those offenses.

            According to the government’s evidence, the first murder took place on Dec. 15, 2015 in the 4700 block of First Street SW. Bellamy and two accomplices approached a car parked on the street at approximately 2:50 p.m. Bellamy, armed with a .38-caliber revolver, approached the passenger window. The assailants instructed the driver, Mr. Baldwin, to pop open the trunk. Nothing of value was found. Mr. Baldwin then attempted to push his way out of the driver’s seat, and Bellamy opened fire. One of Bellamy’s accomplices then fired his gun. The three then took Mr. Baldwin’s wallet, cell phone, and iPad. Mr. Baldwin, 30, an off-duty U.S. Secret Service officer, was taken to a hospital, where he died from multiple gunshot wounds.

            The second murder took place on Saturday, March 26, 2016, the day before Easter, at the Deanwood Metro station, in the 4700 block of Minnesota Avenue NE. According to the government’s evidence, just before 4 p.m., Bellamy saw Davonte Washington on the platform with his mother and two little sisters also waiting for a train.  The family was on the way to getting Davonte’s haircut for Easter. Bellamy mistakenly believed Davonte was “mugging” on him, and he pulled his .38-caliber revolver from his pocket and fired it at close range into Devonte’s chest, killing him. He then fled the station. Davonte died from two gunshot wounds to the torso.

            The homicide of Davonte Washington was captured on Metro surveillance video.  Bellamy was arrested two days after Davonte’s murder and has been in custody ever since. An investigation determined that the same gun that killed the teenager was used to kill Mr. Baldwin.

            In announcing the verdict, U.S. Attorney Liu, Chief Newsham, and Chief Pavlik commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department and the Metro Transit Police Department. They acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Investigative Analyst Zachary McMenamin; Forensic Operation/Program Specialist Benjamin Kagan-Guthrie;  Litigation Technology Specialist Leif Hickling; Lead Paralegal Specialist Meridith McGarrity; Paralegal Specialist Alesha Matthews; Acting Supervisory Victim/Witness Coordinator Katina Adams-Washington; former Supervisory Victim/Witness Services Coordinator David Foster; Victim/Witness Supervisory Security Specialist M. Laverne Perry; Victim/Witness Security Specialist Lesley Slade, and Victim/Witness Advocate Marcia Rinker.

            Finally, they commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Deborah Sines and Glenn Kirschner, who investigated and prosecuted the case.

Updated March 12, 2018

Topic
Violent Crime
Press Release Number: 18-59