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Murder trial set for Feb.
(Published September 7, 2004)

A trial date of Feb. 1 has been set for the two remaining defendants charged with killing three kitchen workers at Colonel Brooks’ Tavern during a robbery at the Brookland restaurant last year.

Rodman J. Durham, 29, and Tyree S. Bunn, 27, both pleaded innocent before D.C. Superior Court Judge Robert I. Richter during their arraignment Sept. 3 on an 18-count indictment that was returned Sept. 1 by a D.C. grand jury.

Also indicted at the same time was co-defendant Joel A. Smith, who opted to plead guilty Sept. 2 to three counts of second-degree murder in lieu of standing trial. Smith, 22, whose plea agreement identified him as the lookout during the robbery, is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 19.

All three were arrested in late January and charged with the murders of workers Neomi Payne, Rodney Barnes and Joshua Greenberg, who were herded into a walk-in refrigerator at the Northeast Washington restaurant and shot in the head at point-blank range on April 6, 2003.

According to court documents, the three workers were preparing to open Colonel Brooks for Palm Sunday brunch when four masked intruders entered the restaurant’s kitchen through an unlocked door at about 8 a.m. with the intent of robbing the establishment of its Saturday night proceeds. The robbery turned deadly when Payne recognized one of the four robbers, who was armed with a semi-automatic handgun, as a former Colonel Brooks’ employee, court documents state. The robbers escaped with about $3,000.

Payne’s former co-worker, David A. Wright, was found dead of self-inflicted wounds Jan. 29 in an apartment near Richmond, Va., when authorities arrived to arrest the 33-year-old suspect on a warrant. Court documents allege that Wright and Durham planned the robbery and also fired the shots that killed the three workers.

Durham, Bunn and Smith were indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit armed robbery, armed robbery, possession of a firearm during crime of violence or dangerous offense, first-degree premeditated murder, first-degree felony murder, carrying a pistol without a license and possession of an unregistered firearm.—By Kathryn Sinzinger