Seven men who were found guilty in a high-profile murder case that shocked D.C. nearly 30 years will get a hearing next week to determine whether they were wrongfully convicted. In the mid-1980s, residents of the District were not yet hardened by the crack cocaine-fueled violence to come. But Catherine Fuller’s slaying and the subsequent trial received extensive news coverage.
In the late afternoon of Oct. 1, 1984, Fuller — a tiny 48-year-old grandmother — was dragged into a Northeast D.C. alley near H and Eighth streets and beaten, sodomized with a pole, and robbed of $50 in cash and a ring.
Police focused on a group of young people who hung out at a nearby park. They called themselves the 8-N-H Crew, and had nicknames like “Snot Rag” and “Bobo.”
Ten people went to trial. Eight of them were convicted by a jury, and two pleaded guilty. Most were sentenced to 35 years to life.
Defense attorneys now say they’ve found evidence that prosecutors withheld information that could have prevented the convictions of the eight defendants, one of whom has since died in prison.
Prosecutors dispute the allegations.
On Monday, D.C. Superior Court Judge Frederick Weisberg will begin hearing evidence to determine whether the men were tried fairly. The judge could let the convictions stand, vacate them or order a new trial.
Most compelling of the defense claims is that the government did not tell them that a witness, Ammie Davis, told police that another man, James Blue, had killed Turner.
Blue had been released from prison the morning of Fuller’s murder. Police believed Davis’ story enough, the defense said, that the government placed her in protective custody.
Davis got out of protective custody, and Blue murdered Davis five days before the Fuller trial. He pleaded guilty in her death.
The defense team also found notes from a prosecutor that identified another man running from the alley about the time of the attack. The man, James McMillan, had been charged with assaulting and robbing two women the same month of Fuller’s murder. Prosecutors never disclosed this information.
Eight years later, McMillan was convicted of killing and sodomizing Abbey McClosky in an alley five blocks from Fuller’s slaying.
