Suspect Pleads Guilty to Rosenbaum Murder

D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey also punished three police officers for shoddy work in the aftermath of Rosenbaum's death.

Widely respected among his colleagues and the people he wrote about, Rosenbaum recently had retired from the Times after more than 30 years at the paper. His memorial service at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill drew a number of notable Washington figures.

Hamlin and Jordan were arrested after police released security videotapes from two stores where someone used or tried to use Rosenbaum's stolen credit cards.

On Jan. 12, about an hour after the footage was provided to the media, Hamlin showed up at a D.C. police station, wearing the same industrial uniform that he appeared to be wearing in the video. He asked officers why his face was on television, authorities said.

When he was arrested, Hamlin was a driver for waste hauler Browning-Ferris Industries Inc. and lived with his mother in an apartment on Alabama Avenue SE, not far from the 7th District police station. It was not his first run-in with the law. In 2002, he was convicted of robbery in Prince George's County and sentenced to a year in jail, although all but three days of the sentence were suspended.

One day after Hamlin's arrest, Jordan, 42, turned himself in at the same police station. Both have been jailed since.

The men were eventually indicted on charges of conspiracy and murder after investigators linked them to a robbery in Silver Spring the night Rosenbaum was attacked.

The same indictment charged Jordan with the November 2005 robbery of a 72-year-old retired police officer, James Rose. It was a robbery that Rose said could have been solved long before Rosenbaum was attacked. Rose said that his cellphone was used to call relatives of both Jordan and Hamlin but that police never followed up on that lead.

The detective who worked on Rose's case was notified yesterday that he was being demoted to the rank of officer, officials said.

Judge Erik P. Christian set Hamlin's sentencing for Dec. 19, but Hamlin could be back in court before then if his cousin goes to trial next month as scheduled. As part of his plea agreement, he must testify for the government if he is called to the witness stand.

Speaking to reporters after the plea was announced, Hamlin's attorneys, Stephen V. Mercer and Steven D. Kupferberg, said that from the outset, Hamlin had wanted to accept responsibility for what he did.

Staff writers Allison Klein and Debbi Wilgoren contributed to this report.