Witness Says He Stood By as Cousin Beat Reporter

In the darkness, in a corner of the District unfamiliar to him, Hamlin became disoriented, he said, when he pulled his Cadillac into Rosenbaum's quiet Northwest Washington neighborhood. Looking around, Jordan said he wanted to break into some of the "nice houses," Hamlin told the jury. But Hamlin told his cousin he wanted no part of any burglaries, he said yesterday.

Then, Hamlin said, they saw Rosenbaum, who had taken a walk after dinner in hopes that the cold winter air would cure him of his hiccups.

But before the cousins could strike, a woman walking her dog entered the block, prompting Hamlin to move his car to distract her, Hamlin said.

Jordan got out of the car and slipped behind a tree, the plastic pipe -- previously reported to be a metal pipe -- hidden in his sleeve, Hamlin said. About that time, Rosenbaum, who was wearing headphones, paused to look around, Hamlin said.

Accosted by Jordan, Rosenbaum resisted before the blows from the pipe sent him falling, Hamlin said. Darting in to steal Rosenbaum's wallet, Hamlin heard the murmurs of a dying man. "He mumbled, but I don't know what he said," Hamlin said yesterday.

After divvying up the cash -- $265 or $275 -- and the credit cards, Hamlin said, his conscience weighed on him. "I looked at my cousin, and I just stared at him, and I thought about it, and I said, 'It wasn't right.' "

Taking a last look at the man they had attacked, Hamlin was tempted to try to help him, he said yesterday. But he didn't. "I thought he was going to recover from his injuries," he said. "I didn't think he was hit that hard."

So they left him there. A neighbor found him and called for help. Initially believed to be intoxicated and not seriously hurt, Rosenbaum was treated as a low medical priority.

An investigation by the city found that emergency medical personnel failed Rosenbaum at almost every turn. As they sped off, Hamlin and Jordan didn't know the damage they had done, Hamlin said.

According to prosecutors, the cousins then went to the 1200 block of Woodside Parkway in Silver Spring and robbed a woman in her 50s before making their way back to Southeast Washington, where they lived and where they went on a shopping spree using the cards stolen in the two robberies.

Security cameras captured them in a CVS and a Safeway, where they filled their baskets with laundry detergent, fabric softener, body lotion, deodorant and jumper cables, Hamlin said.