A 28-year-old D.C. man was found guilty Friday in the shooting death of a homeless man who begged not to be killed for his children’s sake. A District of Columbia jury convicted Alfred Evans of first-degree murder while armed and obstruction of justice in the 2003 slaying of 35-year-old Reginald Brighthart of Southeast Washington.
Evans, who uses the nickname “Stink,” faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
According to charging documents, Evans and Frank Johnson, who has also been convicted in the killing, spent the evening at the Classic’s Night Club in Prince George’s County before driving to a housing complex on Robinson Place SE. For reasons not made clear in the trial, Johnson began attacking Brighthart.
In the tussle, Brighthart bit Johnson on the ankle. Johnson yelped and then threatened to kill Brighthart.
“I’m going to make your mother buy a black dress,” Johnson yelled.
A witness said they heard a gunshot and saw Brighthart kneeling and wiping blood from the floor with a cloth, police said.
Brighthart then fled into an abandoned apartment and locked the front door. Evans and Johnson followed through a window and dragged Brighthart to the bathroom.
Johnson put Brighthart’s head in a toilet. Brighthart begged Evans for help, and pleaded that his children not be left fatherless.
Evans replied that he had nothing to do with it.
Johnson took out a .38 caliber handgun and shot Brighthart once, police said. Evans walked away and heard more shots.
The gun was recovered several days later after Arlington police arrested Johnson’s step-brother on cocaine charges. The step-brother said Evans borrowed the gun on the night of Brighthart’s death, and then returned it the next morning, saying the gun “had a body on it. We killed Reggie last night.”
After Evans’ arrest, prosecutors said he called a witness in the shooting from his jail cell and threatened her.
Evans’ sentencing is scheduled for June 29.
Johnson, now 30, was convicted in 2009 and sentenced to 58 years in prison.
