Murder charges dropped in plea bargain
Jamel Shaleke Crawford
One of two men charged in connection with a 2002 double murder in the Dumfries area pleaded guilty to robbery and firearms charges.
Jamel Shaleke Crawford, 20, pleaded guilty Thursday in Prince William Circuit Court to robbery and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
Crawford and another man, Joshua Wayne Andrews, were charged in the Jan. 2, 2002, murders of Romanno Head and Robert Morrison, who were shot and killed in an apartment on Allerton Court in the Dumfries area.
Prosecutors said Crawford and Andrews planned to rob the men and steal money and drugs from the apartment.
Crawford said they did not plan to shoot anyone, but Andrews did.
Andrews was convicted of capital murder after a jury trial in 2007. The jury recommended the death penalty, and last month a Prince William Circuit Court judge imposed that sentence.
Crawford testified against Andrews at his trial and entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors.
After Crawford pleaded guilty to two charges Thursday, prosecutors dropped seven other felony charges, including two counts of capital murder.
According to prosecutors, Andrews entered the apartment first. He had two guns with him.
He forced the three men inside the apartment to go into the bathroom, take off their clothes and stand in the bathtub.
While Andrews held the men in the bathroom, Crawford entered the apartment and looked for money and marijuana to steal, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney William Jarvis said.
Crawford was leaving the apartment when "he heard a number of gunshots," Jarvis said.
Andrews shot each of the three men in the head. Morrison and Head died. The third man, Rutherford Berry, survived.
Crawford told police and prosecutors that no one was supposed to get shot that night.
He said he and Andrews brought guns to the robbery "as a show of force," Jarvis said.
"There was an explicit agreement that there would not be shooting," Jarvis said.
At Andrews' 2007 trial, Crawford testified that "no one was supposed to get hurt or shot that night."
Crawford will be sentenced March 4.
Staff writer Amanda Stewart can be reached at 703-878-8014.
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