The widow of slain D.C. attorney Robert Wone has reached a settlement with the three housemates who lived in the Dupont Circle home where Wone was fatally stabbed in 2006. Katherine Wone filed a $20 million wrongful-death suit against Joseph Price, Dylan Ward and Joseph Zaborsky in November 2008. The trio was acquitted last summer of conspiring to mislead police and covering up Robert Wone’s death.
The civil case had been scheduled to go to trial this fall. The settlement ends the years-long litigation involving Wone’s Aug. 2, 2006, death and lets both sides avoid a lengthy trial and appeals process.
The terms of the settlement weren’t disclosed, but Katherine Wone’s attorneys said the three men will make monetary payments to the Robert Wone Memorial Trust for scholarships and legal services.
Proceedings in the civil case have been contentious at times, as the three men have repeatedly refused to answer questions in depositions, saying they were invoking their Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination.
A statement from Katherine Wone and her attorneys said that she agreed to a settlement because a civil trial would have been “a painful experience for Robert’s family and friends” and “would not have uncovered any new information about what happened” the night Wone was killed.
Katherine Wone is “at peace” with the decision to settle, the statement said.
Attorneys for Price, Ward and Zaborsky did not respond to phone calls and emails for comment.
Wone was found stabbed to death at the trio’s townhouse on the 1500 block of Swann Street NW. He was spending the night at their home after working late at his job as general counsel for Radio Free Asia.
The trio was charged with conspiracy, obstruction of justice and tampering with evidence in October 2008. No one has been charged with murder in Wone’s slaying, and the case remains open.
The three men maintained that an intruder broke into the home and stabbed Wone in the chest.
In acquitting the three men in the criminal case, D.C. Superior Court Judge Lynn Leibovitz called that theory “incredible” but said prosecutors didn’t present enough evidence for a conviction.
