Fourteen-year-old Jahkema “Princess” Hansen was dating 28-year-old murder suspect Marquette Ward. Police detectives visited Hansen to see if she had any information about the murder over a PCP-laced marijuana cigarette, which she allegedly witnessed. She told them she didn’t, and then (according to prosecutors) went to Ward and asked for compensation for keeping quiet. The night after the interview, a friend of Ward’s, Franklin Thompson, allegedly stormed Hansen’s DC townhouse and shot her dead, execution-style. (Ward and Thompson have plead not guilty to the two murders, and go to trial in March.)
But what makes this sordid story one for Overlawyered was the reaction of Hansen’s mother, Judyann Hansen, who, through her attorney, Donald Rosendorf, sued the Washington, DC, police department, blaming them for Hansen’s death. “Any time a police officer sets foot in that neighborhood, it gets around and it gets around fast,” Rosendorf said. Thus, he argued, the mere fact of the interview created a legal duty to provide special protection for Hansen. A D.C. Superior Court judge has disagreed, and dismissed the suit. (Henri E. Cauvin, “D.C. Police Not Liable in Witness’s Death, Judge Rules”, Washington Post, Nov. 10). A Marc Fisher column in the WaPo in February painted a more sympathetic portrait of the Hansen family (which included two adult sons serving time for crack-dealing), which led to a Charlotte Allen fisking.
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