A Suburban Hospital maintenance worker was convicted of killing his supervisor over what prosecutors say was a schedule change and poor performance review.
A Montgomery County Circuit Court jury found 50-year-old Keith D. Little guilty of first-degree murder the New Year’s Day stabbing death of Roosevelt Brockington Jr. Brockington, 40, was found stabbed more than 70 times in the Bethesda hospital’s basement boiler room.
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Little was arrested Jan. 5 after a coworker saw him washing gloves and a ski mask in chemically treated water.
The prosecution overcame a significant hurdle in proving that those actions demonstrated Little’s guilt.
A forensic biologist testified that Little could not be definitively included or excluded as a DNA contributor to the mask, DNA from both Little and Brockington was inside the glove and DNA from Brockington was on a stain on the glove’s exterior. The biologist was not allowed to testify that the stain was Brockington’s blood. Prosecutor Robert Hill, though, asserted in his closing argument that it was.
Little’s attorneys argued that he was fingered in amid an atmosphere of paranoia and washing the items was simply his job — cleaning.
But prosecutors argued that Little was the only person with the deep hatred of Brockington and knowledge of and access to the hospital to commit the slaying.
The killing wasn’t the first time Little was accused of killing a coworker. He was charged in the 2003 slaying of a fellow maintenance worker for Realty Management Associates in the District, but was acquitted at trial. Shortly before the shooting, the slain colleague told Little’s boss that Little was stealing from the organization and was entering apartments without permission, according to court documents.
The jury was not told about that slaying.
Little’s conviction Wednesday is punishable by life in prison.
