A Washington, D.C. man has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for the stabbing death of another man outside a Foggy Bottom neighborhood soup kitchen in January 2020.
A Washington, D.C. man has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for the stabbing death of another man outside a Foggy Bottom neighborhood soup kitchen in January 2020.
In a news release from the U.S. attorney's office in Washington, prosecutors said the suspect, Joseph Melton, 55, of Southeast, pleaded guilty March 25 to second-degree murder and assault with a dangerous weapon while armed.
Melton is accused of multiple stabbings in the city on January 14, 2020.
The first attack occurred around 9:10 a.m. when Chamberlain was walking in the 1800 block of Connecticut Avenue in Northwest Washington, D.C., when he was confronted by a man named Kevin Chamberlain.
Prosecutors said Chamberlain did not know Melton but recognized him as a friend from college, when the 55-year-old pulled out a knife and tried to stab him.
Chamberlain fled and reported the incident to police.
The second attack happened around 1:15 p.m. in the 800 block of Vermont Avenue, near the McPherson Square subway station, when Melton stabbed another man, leaving his “entrails protruding from his body,” according to the charging documents.
Authorities said the second victim survived the stabbing.
Melton confronted Chamberlain again about an hour later outside Miriam's Kitchen on Virginia Avenue in the Northwest Neighborhood, stabbing him again, and Chamberlain died from his injuries a few hours later.
Melton's 366-month sentence will include a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison and five years of probation, according to court documents.
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