THE GAZETTE
Page A-6
Thursday, September 19, 2013 lr
Alsobrooks denies mother’s request to reopen 1993 case Forestville woman vows to keep fighting for investigation into shooting death of son n
BY CHASE COOK STAFF WRITER
After about 20 years of fighting to reopen the case on her son’s death, Dorothy Elliott finally got an extended meeting with the Prince George’s County state’s attorney — but the answer was still the same. The county won’t take another look at the case. Elliott of Forestville met Sept. 11 with county State’s Attorney Angela Alsobrooks, who denied Elliott’s request to reopen the case on her son, Elliott said. Archie Elliott III, 24, of Forestville was shot by Prince George’s police offi-
cer Wayne Cheney and District Heights police officer Jason Leavitt after they claimed he attempted to fire a gun at them while handcuffed in the front seat of a police cruiser. Archie Elliott had been handcuffed and placed into the car after being pulled over for drunk driving, according to police. He was hit 14 times after the officers fired 22 bullets from their handguns. Both officers were not indicted in 1994 after a seventh-month investigation. “We believe these police officers should be indicted,” Dorothy Elliott said. Elliott and her supporters were granted the meeting after they submitted a petition to reopen the case with more than 1,200 signatures, Elliott said. Elliott had previously petitioned former county state’s attorney Jack Johnson to reopen the case after the officers were
not indicted, but Johnson wouldn’t reopen the case, she said. Elliott said her dispute is that Archie Elliott was not armed when he was shot and that police covered up his death. During the meeting, Elliott and her supporters, calling themselves the Committee for Justice for Archie Elliott III, presented witnesses’ statements that allegedly contradicted the officers’ statements and other witness statements regarding seeing Archie Elliott with a gun in his hand after he was shot, according to a case analysis submitted by Thomas Ruffin, a lawyer assisting Elliott. Alsobrooks’ spokesman John Erzen said the state’s attorney disagreed with Ruffin’s analysis of the case and stated they didn’t provide new evidence that would warrant reopening the case. “What we would have needed to see
today would have been new evidence that did not exist prior to the case going through the grand jury,” Erzen said. This was the first substantive meeting Elliott said she has had with a county state’s attorney. Johnson met with Elliott briefly, but that meeting didn’t have her supporters and didn’t allow for exchanging information. Elliott has also made other attempts to get the officers indicted — she filed a civil suit against the officers for excessive force, but that case was dismissed in 1996, according to court documents. Since her son’s death, she has been an activist against police violence, working with documentary filmmakers and making public speeches. Elliott plans to continue the fight to open the case, and she said she has some options on the table, but she
wouldn’t comment on the specifics of her next step. “I much rather would have seen my son in jail and visited him there instead of a lifetime of him not being here,” Elliott said. “It looks like the police get away with killing people without any repercussion or accountability ever.” Erzen said the state’s attorney said although they couldn’t open Elliott’s case, they will continue to crack down when police abuse their power. “While it doesn’t change what happened to her son, it doesn’t bring him back, things are significantly different now than they were 20 years ago,” Erzen said. “If new evidence was provided to us from this case, potentially it could move things forward.” ccook@gazette.net
Man charged in double homicide
Ice cream comrades
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Laurel man allegedly had a romantic relationship with one of the victims BY CHASE COOK STAFF WRITER
TOM FEDOR/THE GAZETTE
Leon Swain (center) of Berwyn Heights, Mary Ann Zito (right) of Berwyn Heights and Wanda Harris of Washington, D.C., gather Friday with other community members for an ice cream social organized by the Berwyn Heights seniors club.
A suspect in a double homicide in Laurel that left a mentally challenged girl without her mother was arrested by Metropolitan Police on Sept. 12. Thurston Yerby, 47, of Laurel was arrested Sept. 12 in Washington, D.C., in connection with the killings of Tina Towler, 45, and James Ferguson, 42, who were found dead with multiple stab wounds on May 2, according to police. The arrest occurred during a traffic stop after a warrant was issued Sept. 11; however, Yerby was a suspect
early in the investigation, Prince George’s County spokesman Lt. William Alexander said. He is being charged with first- and second-degree murder, according to police. “It was just the process of collecting the evidence and solidifying the case before moving forward,” he said. On May 2, officers were called to the 9600 block of Muirkirk Road after a nurse caring for Towler’s daughter found both Towler and Ferguson at about 8:15 a.m. with stab wounds to their upper bodies, according to police. Both were pronounced dead at the scene, and Towler’s daughter is now being cared for by the state of Maryland, according to police. Towler’s daughter was at home during the killing and was
physically unharmed, Alexander said. According to police, Yerby had a romantic relationship with Towler, and surveillance video captured his truck driving to and from the crime scene, and DNA evidence allegedly links Yerby to the scene. The motive behind the double homicide is still under investigation, according to police. Yerby is being held in Washington, D.C., and is expected to be extradited to Prince George’s County where he will likely be held without bond, Alexander said. A phone number for Yerby was not available, and his public defender, Corinne Schultz, did not return phone calls immediately. ccook@gazette. net
Upper Marlboro developer continues push to attract FBI headquarters n
Wesatphalia Center would host about 15,000 jobs BY CHASE COOK STAFF WRITER
The Walton Group updated Prince George’s officials on its $2 billion Westphalia Town Center project in Upper Marlboro, spe-
cifically its plans to lure the FBI and its 11,000 jobs to the site. Walton Group CEO Bill Doherty spoke Sept. 11 at the Greater Prince George’s County Business Roundtable in Bowie on the importance of bringing in the FBI, which seeks to relocate from its current Washington, D.C. headquarters. The U.S. General Services
Administration has been soliciting proposals from developers in Maryland, Virginia and the District for the construction of a replacement for the FBI’s current headquarters. Doherty hopes a proposed 4.5-mile bus rapid transit route will bolster its chances at snagging the FBI headquarters. Passengers would depart from the Branch Avenue Metro sta-
tion with a stop at Westphalia and Joint Base Andrews. The transportation solution, proposed by the Alberta, Canada-based developer, seeks to address a weakness the center could have regarding public transportation for FBI employees and other commuters, Doherty said. “At the end of the day some-
thing is needed,” Doherty said. “There will be 15,000 jobs at Westphalia and about 11,000 jobs at Joint Base Andrews and there is no service.” Company representatives have been in contact with the Maryland Department of Transportation, but the route is still conceptual and more information isn’t available at this time,
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Doherty said. “The new headquarters should be located in Prince George’s County,” Doherty said. “It is based on both merit and equity.” Doherty’s plans puts Walton in direct competition with the Greenbelt Metro Station location that has been backed heavily by county officials. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority has offered about 78 acres around the station as a potential location for the FBI. Westphalia would offer 50 acres, according to a Walton Group fact sheet. Doherty said Walton would stay in communication with the county, with the ultimate goal of the FBI building its headquarters in either location. “ W e should alDoherty low the client to decide,” Doherty said. “We want the FBI to come to Prince George’s County and we have two very good sites.” County Executive Rushern L. Baker III (D), who attended the meeting, said the county will continue to back the Greenbelt location. “The county found the site that will have the best opportunity to win and took a chance,” Baker said. “It’s the way we approach economic development.” If the FBI does decide to makes its home at the town center, it could potentially expedite the center’s construction, allowing commercial businesses to move in faster since the FBI’s estimated 11,000 employees would be at Westphalia, said Rick Abbruzzese, a Walton spokesman. The entire build of Westphalia is going to take about 10 to 12 years, but the headquarters could expedite that, though there are no solid numbers on how much faster, Abbruzzese said. Either way, if Westphalia Town Center gets the FBI headquarters or not, development will continue and Walton will continue to invest in Prince George’s County, Doherty said. “When Walton makes a move to make an investment, we look at it from a generational point of view,” Doherty said. “It is going to be there long after everyone in this room is gone.” ccook@gazette.net