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This house, where attorney Robert Wone was murdered last August, was burglarized in October but charges in the latter case have been dropped. (Blade file photo)
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HOME > NEWS > LOCAL
By: LOU CHIBBARO J COMMENTS
 
A D.C. Superior Court judge on Aug. 15 dismissed charges against two men arrested last November for allegedly burglarizing a Washington townhouse on Swann Street, N.W., where the unsolved murder of attorney Robert Wone took place three months earlier.
Judge John Ramsey Johnson dismissed second-degree burglary charges against Phelps Collins, 36, and Michael Price, 35, after the United States Attorney’s office decided not to seek an indictment against the two men within a required nine-month period following their arrest.
Under the city’s criminal code, felony charges must be dismissed if the government fails to obtain an indictment within that time frame. At the government’s request, Johnson issued the dismissals “without prejudice,” which allows the U.S. Attorney’s office to reinstate the charges at a later date.
Michael Price is the brother of Joseph Price, co-owner of the Swann Street house and one of three gay men who reported they were asleep in the house at the time Wone was stabbed to death in a guest bedroom on Aug. 2, 2006.
Police said the burglary took place Oct. 30, 2006, at a time when the house was unoccupied. They accused Michael Price and Collins of stealing more than $7,000 worth of electronic equipment from the house.
Investigators have said they did not have evidence linking the burglary to the murder but were hopeful that information surrounding the burglary might lead to evidence that could help them solve the murder.
Channing Philips, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office, said he could not comment on the government’s reason for not seeking an indictment within the nine-month statute of limitations. But he noted that prosecutors routinely take such an action if they believe they don’t have sufficient evidence to obtain a conviction and they don’t feel it’s appropriate to seek an indictment.
Last week, Philips told the Blade that a prosecutor from his office asked the judge to dismiss the charges without prejudice. This week, Philips said he had misspoken, saying the judge issued his dismissal order at the request of defense attorneys.
“Sometimes we do it, sometimes the defense will do it,” he said. “In both cases, the results are the same.”
Eric Glass, an attorney representing Michael Price, did not respond to phone messages seeking comment. Collins’ attorney, Tiffany Sizemore, could not be reached at her office with the D.C. Public Defender Service.
Washington attorney Dale Edwin Sanders, who specializes in criminal law, said the decision by the government to allow the burglary charges to be dropped raises additional questions because the evidence against the two men in the burglary case appears very strong.
Sanders pointed to affidavits in support of the arrest of Collins and Michael Price prepared by detectives and filed in D.C. Superior Court. The affidavits state that the two men were found in possession of items stolen from the house and that Collins waived his rights and confessed to the burglary.
“Defendant Phelps [Collins] stated that he participated in the offense with Michael Price and that Michael Price provided keys to the residence to gain entry,” one of two affidavits says. “In addition, defendant Collins admitted to using a car that Michael Price was driving to transport the stolen property,” the affidavit says.
Court records show that Montgomery County, Md., police arrested Michael Price several hours after the burglary took place on a charge of driving a car that he allegedly stole earlier in the day. Police found items reported missing from the Swann Street house in the trunk of the stolen car.
At least two employees of a pawnshop located near the Swann Street house gave statements to police identifying Collins as having sold a number of the items missing from the house to the shop, according to one of the affidavits.
The affidavits also state that Joseph Price told police he did not give his brother permission to enter his house or to remove or sell items Collins and Michael Price reportedly had taken from the house.
“Assuming the information in the affidavit is accurate, the evidence is overwhelming,” Sanders said. “This is a slam-dunk case and the likelihood of getting a conviction by a jury is very high.
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