CRIMES

The Charge: Unlawful Possession of a Controlled Substance

The record: On June 1, 2007, Darrel Thompson approached the passenger side of a gray 4-door vehicle traveling northbound on the 2300 block of 18th Street NW. Officers then observed “a hand to hand transaction” prompting them to stop Thompson. At this point, the aforementioned vehicle left the scene, heading northward. The officers then asked Thompson if he “had anything on him that they should know about.” Thompson responded affirmatively, saying, “I have marijuana.” He then handed over a clear “sandwich baggy containing a green weedlike substance from his right front pocket.”

Convicted: 10/15/07

PLEAS FOR MERCY

Lawyer: “This is his first time that he’s ever been arrested. He’s definitely learned from this experience. This is not something that he’s taking lightly at all. He indicates that he’s worked for five years (he details cars in Manassas).…This is not anything in his normal lifestyle.” After Thompson’s initial sentence of supervised probation is doled out, his lawyer pipes up again to ask for unsupervised probation. Thompson wants to leave the country for a few weeks to go home to Jamaica to visit his family. He was born in Kingston but is currently a U.S. citizen, his lawyer says.

PUNISHMENT

The Sentence: $150 to the Victims of Violent Crime Compensation Fund by Dec. 1. Two months of unsupervised probation—which essentially means “he has to be good,” not get arrested, and comply with the conditions of his probation, says a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. “If you are successful on probation, then sir, you will have your entire record erased, including your arrest record,” states Judge Jeanette Clark.