Three men went on trial Monday in a case stemming from an unusual killing in Dupont Circle almost four years ago.
No one has been charged with murder in the stabbing death of 32-year-old Robert Wone. But three men who shared the house where Wone was killed are accused of tampering with evidence and giving police false or misleading information.
Joseph Price, Victor Zaborsky and Dylan Ward have opted not to have a jury hear their case. Instead, D.C. Superior Court Judge Lynn Leibovitz will rule on their guilt or innocence. According to court documents, the three men are involved in a three-way relationship, News4's Pat Collins reported.
The housemates blamed an intruder for the August 2006 stabbing, but there were no signs of struggle or forced entry.
Wone had been restrained, sexually assaulted and stabbed after going to sleep on a pullout couch in a second-floor guestroom of the Dupont Circle row house, police said.
Prosecutors said the three defendants know who killed Wone and that the men delayed calling police that night so they would have enough time to clean up the crime scene and dispose of evidence. They then made up a story about an intruder breaking into the row house to stab the attorney, police said.
The suspect's planted a knife at the scene to throw off the investigation, prosecutors said. Investigators said they believe the knife actually used to stab Wone three times came from Ward's cutlery set, from which one knife is missing, but Ward's attorney said that knife has never been in D.C. and was in Seattle at the time of Wone's death.
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Price's lawyer said Price wouldn't have interfered with the investigation into his friend Wone's death, Collins reported.
Wone's widow also has filed a $20 million civil suit against the defendants.
Courtroom sketches in the video courtesy of Bill Hennessy.
