It's been more than a year since a Centreville man driving without a license struck and killed a pedestrian — a 50-year-old Leesburg woman — in a Washington, D.C., crosswalk.
BUT SHORTLY before Christmas, Juan Miguel Mendez, 24, went on trial in D.C. Superior Court. At the end of 4 1/2 days of testimony and evidence — plus three hours of deliberation — the jury returned, Dec. 20, and convicted him of negligent homicide. He's due to be sentenced in March.
The tragedy occurred Sept. 15, 2003, around 1:38 p.m., at Connecticut Avenue and L Street, NW. The victim, Denise Marguerite Henderson, worked as a legal transcriptionist at Beta Reporting and Videography, just a few blocks away, and was on her lunch break at the time.
Mendez, of 6767 Jenny Leigh Court in the Clifton Townes community, was a day laborer for a company that installed marble. But without his employer's permission, he had taken a white, 2000 Chevrolet van that belonged to the company.
He was traveling southbound on Connecticut Avenue and L Street, NW, and, after the traffic signal turned green for southbound traffic, his vehicle entered the intersection and struck Henderson, who was crossing eastbound within the south crosswalk. But that's not all.
"After striking the pedestrian, the defendant accelerated the vehicle and ran over the [woman's] body," said a D.C. police officer during Mendez' arraignment, the following afternoon. "The defendant then drove at a high rate of speed southbound on Connecticut Avenue and passed a red traffic signal at K Street, NW."
Police broadcast a lookout for the van but, as things turned out, it was actually stopped by shocked and horrified witnesses to the accident who chased after it on foot and by bicycle. "Several citizens pursued the defendant from the collision scene," said the officer. "He was subsequently stopped and blocked in by citizens, as well as police, at 12th and E Street, NW."
HENDERSON WAS rushed to George Washington University Hospital, where she died, a short time later. (Originally from Long Island, N.Y., she'd resided in Upper Darby, Pa., prior to moving to Leesburg with her husband in 1987).
Meanwhile, D.C. Metropolitan police took Mendez into custody and charged him with negligent homicide, leaving after colliding (with injuries), no operator's permit and failing to yield the right of way to a pedestrian. He was later released into his brother's custody and placed in the court's Intensive Supervision program
On Sept. 24, 2003, he waived his right to a preliminary hearing and the charges against him were sent to the grand jury. However, because of the large volume of crimes in the District, he was not indicted until March 23, 2004.
His jury trial began Dec. 13 in D.C. Superior Court, before Judge Ann O'Regan Keary, and ended on Dec. 17. After breaking for the weekend, the jurors deliberated three hours, Dec. 20, before finding Mendez guilty of negligent homicide and unauthorized use of a vehicle.
"[The van] belonged to his employer, George Reed," explained Channing Phillips, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington. "Mendez had worked for him for about 2 1/2 years. He had a valid work permit, but he was not to drive any of the company vehicles unless he had a driver's license."
Mendez' sentencing is set for March 11. At that time, he could receive as much as 10 years in prison — five years maximum for each of the crimes for which he was convicted.