I think I've found the perfect cellmate for OJ. One of our upstanding local citizens.
Man Gets 60 Years for Murder, Rape of Neighbor, 77
By Keith L. Alexander
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 4, 2008; Page B04
A D.C. Superior Court judge sentenced a Southeast Washington man yesterday to 60 years in prison for the 2004 rape and murder of his 77-year-old neighbor.
In May, after a four-week trial, a jury found Robert Pettus, 22, guilty of raping and murdering Martha E. Byrd, who lived in the 500 block of Hilltop Terrace SE. Byrd's nude body was found in her bed with a 12-inch knife protruding from her chest. Prosecutors also said Pettus left a handwritten note attached to Byrd's stomach: "You souldns [shouldn't] have cheated on me." Pettus was arrested six days later.
Judge Neal E. Kravitz called the crime "unspeakable" and said Pettus "proved himself utterly incapable of living peacefully in the community."
"He's going to do a lot of time, but he should have gotten life," said Byrd's son, Maurice, 59.
With his ankles and legs shackled, Pettus turned toward the crowded courtroom full of Byrd's family members as well as his own family and apologized for Byrd's death and for not cooperating fully with police. He says he had an ongoing sexual relationship with Byrd but denied having anything to do with her murder.
"Please don't give me life without parole for a murder that I didn't commit," Pettus said, turning toward Kravitz.
Wearing a "Free My Daddy" T-shirt, Pettus's 7-year-old son sat with Pettus's family.
Pettus has another case before Kravitz. He was charged with the 2007 rape of a cellmate in the D.C. Jail.