DISTRICT BRIEFING

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

FEDERAL COURT

Ex-Marshal Convicted in Beating, Coverup

A federal jury convicted a former deputy with the U.S. Marshals Service in Washington yesterday of using excessive force against a bound man and then attempting to cover up the beating.

Stephen Cook was indicted in August in U.S. District Court on seven counts, including civil rights and witness-tampering charges, and stood trial on four. The jury found Cook guilty of all four, concluding that he had pulled an arrested man from a police van outside D.C. Superior Court, dragged him to the ground and repeatedly hit him in the head during his Aug. 30, 2005, shift.

Cook was also found guilty of tampering with witnesses by asking another deputy marshal to cover up the incident and help him make a false report about how the man was injured. Cook faces a maximum possible sentence of 35 years but a likely sentence of at least three years under guidelines.

-- Carol D. Leonnig

PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Students Invited to Share Ideas for Changes

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee will hold an Education Town Hall for Youth on Saturday to discuss ways to improve the public school system.

At the summit, to be held from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at THEARC, 1901 Mississippi Ave. SE, Fenty (D) and Rhee will outline their plans for the system and will solicit ideas from students about improving schools.

-- V. Dion Haynes

NW CHURCH ARSON

Room Where Homeless Are Fed Is Damaged

An arson in the basement of a Northwest Washington church early yesterday caused minor damage to a room where volunteers serve breakfast to about 250 homeless people a day, authorities and the church's pastor said.

The fire, which caused $10,000 to $20,000 in damage to the multipurpose room of Western Presbyterian Church, was extinguished by sprinklers before it could spread, said the Rev. John W. Wimberly Jr., the church's pastor.

"The arson investigators said that without the sprinklers, the building would have been toast," said Wimberly, who runs Miriam's Kitchen at the church, in the 2400 block of Virginia Avenue NW. "It's a very weird feeling to know someone out there wanted to burn down the church and we don't know who it is."

He said someone broke a heavy plexiglass window, poured gasoline in the room and ignited the fuel with a match. Alan Etter, a spokesman for D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services, said the fire, which set off an alarm at 3:10 a.m., had been mostly extinguished by the sprinklers by the time firefighters arrived.

Wimberly said homeless people who came for food yesterday morning cleared water and debris from the room and were served breakfasts as usual.

-- Paul Duggan

PROGRAM FOR RELEASED PRISONERS

Improved Ties Between Fathers, Kids Sought

D.C. officials announced a new initiative yesterday to foster better relations between fathers leaving prison and their children.

Fathers Court, as the project is known, will target 45 newly released fathers, arranging counseling, jobs and drug treatment.

D.C. Superior Court is partnering with federal and local agencies, many of which work with the 2,000 people who return to the city from prison each year. D.C. inmates are housed in distant federal prisons, and many parents never see their children during incarceration.

Judges and caseworkers will also work closely with the returning fathers who volunteer, helping to reduce their debt and setting up a child support payment schedule so they don't fall behind and are returned to prison.

Often, fathers don't pay "because they don't have the resources they need or the help to turn themselves around. We are going to give them some help," D.C. Attorney General Linda Singer said.

-- Robert Pierre