A District man pleaded guilty to a violent killing in which the victim was bound, tortured and stabbed in order to obtain the combination to a small personal safe. Ronnell James pleaded to second-degree murder while armed with aggravating circumstances in the 2007 death of 56-year-old Robert Beidleman Jr. The 39-year-old James faces up to life in prison without possibility of release.

On the early morning of April, 8, 2007, Beidleman was found dead in his Northeast Washington apartment bedroom with a large butcher knife plunged into his chest, police said. His head and face were wrapped in clear plastic wrap, and duct tape covered his mouth.