WASHINGTON – Milton Hood, 51, of Washington, D.C., has been found guilty by a jury on charges of robbing and assaulting a senior citizen couple in Northwest Washington, U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips announced today
Hood was found guilty on Jan. 25, 2017, of one count of robbery of a senior citizen, and one count of assault with intent to commit robbery of a senior citizen. The verdict followed a two-week trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. The Honorable Kimberley S. Knowles scheduled sentencing for April 7, 2017.
According to the government’s evidence at trial, at about 11:15 a.m. on May 29, 2015, a 75-year-old woman and her 81-year-old husband were walking south on 23rd Street NW, between Q and P Streets. Hood attacked the husband, knocking him to the ground, and forcibly removed his wallet from his back pocket. The female victim, afraid for her husband’s life, began striking Hood with her cane, hitting him repeatedly on the head and neck. Hood turned on her, striking back and knocking her head to the ground. Hood tried to grab her purse, but the female victim, bleeding from her head and her knees, did not let go. People in two cars driving by stopped to help the victims, and the defendant ran off. Based on descriptions provided by the victims and eyewitnesses, Hood was spotted by the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) two hours later wearing the exact same clothing as he was at the time of the attack. The victim’s cane was swabbed for DNA, and subsequent testing revealed the presence of Hood’s DNA on it.
In announcing the guilty verdict, U.S. Attorney Phillips commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. He also expressed appreciation for the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Michael Ambrosino, Special Counsel for DNA and Forensic Evidence Litigation; Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sharon Donovan, Michael Spence, Chrisellen Kolb, and Stephen Rickard; Paralegal Specialists Crystal Waddy, Stephanie Siegerist, Stephanie Gilbert, Donville Drummond, Lynda Randolph, Debra McPherson, and Benjamin Kagan-Guthrie; Litigation Technology Specialists Claudia Gutierrez, Jeanie Latimore-Brown, and Paul Howell, and Jennifer Clark, Latina Adams-Washington and LaJune Thames, of the Victim Witness Assistance Unit. Finally, he commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Gilead Light, Michael Romano, and Allessandra Stewart, who investigated and prosecuted the case.