Opinion ID: 2755588
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Pierre Johnson Murder

Text: On March 14, 2003, Cheadle was arrested for the Atkins murder and thereafter was housed in the same area of the D.C. Jail as his childhood friend Pierre Johnson. Appearing before a grand jury in May 2003, Johnson testified that, while he and Cheadle were incarcerated together, Cheadle confessed to killing Atkins. At approximately 1:30 a.m. on October 10, 2004, Johnson was shot and killed near the corner of 14th and V streets, N.W. George Haynes, another 6 childhood friend of Cheadle, testified that he was standing with some friends outside a gas station nearby when he saw Israel emerge from behind some cars wearing a mask that covered the lower portion of his face. Haynes testified that Johnson started to flee as soon as he spotted Israel, but that Israel fired five or six shots at the fleeing Johnson before running through an alley away from the scene. Haynes testified that he “understood that [Johnson] was going to get killed because he was telling” about Cheadle’s involvement in the Atkins murder and that Israel had told him he was going to kill Johnson. Haynes further testified that, after Johnson had been killed, Israel approached Haynes and another man and asked them if they had seen “his work” and clarified that he was referring to the Johnson murder. About a week after Johnson was murdered, Israel told Haynes that men known as “Little MoMo” and “Little Clay” were also to be killed because they were “telling on” Cheadle for the Atkins murder. D. Obstruction of Justice with Respect to Matthews During the time period between the Atkins murder and the Johnson murder, while Cheadle and Johnson were still in jail together, Michael Matthews began cooperating with the government. On March 15, 2003, he gave a videotaped statement describing the Atkins shooting, and on March 17, 2003, he testified 7 before the grand jury. In May and June of 2004, Matthews visited Cheadle several times at the D.C. Jail and had conversations with Cheadle that were recorded by the jail. After those jail visits, Matthews went missing, failing to appear to testify in Cheadle’s trial, which was scheduled to start in July of 2004 but had to be delayed after Matthews could not be found. At appellants’ trial in 2009, Matthews claimed to have no memory of Atkins’s murder even though he had given details about it to the grand jury.