By: E&P Staff One of the two men charged with the January murder of New York Times reporter David Rosenbaum pleaded guilty Wednesday to second-degree murder, robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery in D.C. Superior Court, according to published reports.
Michael C. Hamlin, told the court that he and his cousin Percey Jordan Jr. attacked Rosenbaum Jan. 6 as the 63-year-old journalist was walking in his D.C. neighborhood. Jordan's trial is scheduled to begin in a month, and as part of the plea agreement Hamlin has agreed to testify against his cousin.
When Hamlin is sentenced on Dec. 19, prosecutors have, in turn, agreed to ask for a term in line with sentencing guidelines; without the agreement, he could have faced up to 60 years in prison.
Questions were raised in the months after Rosenbaum's murder as to the quality of the city's emergency response to the incident -- mainly by Washignton Post columnist Colbert King -- and the case has prompted the D.C. police to discipline three officers for their mistakes in the case.
Except for three years in the 1980s, Rosenbaum had been working in the New York Times' D.C. bureau since 1968, most recently covering the Social Security debate in 2005. He had retired just days before his death.
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