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Press Release
Press Release
WASHINGTON – Thomasine Bennett, 68, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 10 years in prison on a charge of voluntary manslaughter for killing her 63-year-old boyfriend at her apartment in Northeast Washington, U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu announced.
Bennett pled guilty in July 2017 in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. The plea agreement, which was contingent upon the Court’s approval, called for an agreed-upon sentence of 10 years in prison. The Honorable José M. Lopez accepted the plea today and sentenced Bennett accordingly. Following her prison term, Bennett will be placed on five years of supervised release.
According to a proffer of facts submitted at the plea hearing, on Feb. 17, 2017, at approximately 12:55 p.m., officers with the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) received a call to investigate trouble at an apartment in the 700 block of 21st Street NE. Upon arrival, officers found the victim, Walter M. Clark, unconscious and unresponsive inside a hallway closet with multiple bruises to the body. The District of Columbia Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services transported Mr. Clark to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy later determined that Mr. Clark, 63, died from multiple blunt force trauma.
Bennett met police officers when they arrived on the scene. According to the proffer, she stated that her boyfriend was in the back and that he made her smoke “Love Boat” the previous night. She directed officers to the hallway closet. Investigators quoted Bennett as saying that she beat Mr. Clark with a baseball bat over the last day and a half. She was arrested and has been in custody ever since.
In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. She also expressed appreciation for the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Victim/Witness Advocate Marcia Rinker, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine Earnest, who investigated and prosecuted the matter.