U.S. Atty seeks community impact statements for use in sentencing killer of Grace's Deli owner June Lim

Please consider writing a community impact statement for Steven V. Williams. Such actions send a strong message that the community and law enforcement work together to stop crime. You as a stakeholder, in the community, have a voice that can be heard by taking the time out to write a statement. Please read the press release below, and also include the following information on your CIS. Send your Community Impact Statement to: Carolyn dot Crank at usdoj dot gov.   Your name will be redacted from your note or community impact statement.

Steven V. Williams

2012CF1020477

Judge: Robert E. Morin

PSA 104

 Charge: Murder II

Sentencing: June 21, 2013

Please submit all CIS at least 2 weeks before the sentencing date.

Thank you. If you have any questions, please contact Carolyn Crank.

In completing a community impact statement, you may wish to consider the following:

 

(1) How has this crime affected you and your community?

(2)  Has it had a negative affect on your community’s attitudes about itself? (For example, has the
crime given rise in the community to feelings of anger, rage, vulnerability, fear, paranoia,
hopelessness, frustration, or loss of trust and faith in society?)

(3)  What is the social or economic impact of this crime on your neighborhood? (For example, are
children kept indoors more, is it more difficult to safely use parks, are businesses less likely to
stay or come to your neighborhood, have you spent more money or other resources as a result of
being a crime victim?)

(4)  What is needed to return your neighborhood to the conditions that existed prior to the crime
being committed.
(5)  What do you think is an appropriate sentence for this offense?

District Man Pleads Guilty to Second-Degree Murder While Armed

In Slaying of Northeast Washington Deli Owner

-DNA Linked the Defendant to the Crime Scene-

Steven Williams, 46, of Washington, D.C., pled guilty today to a charge of second-degree murder while armed in the June 2012 slaying of the owner of a Northeast Washington delicatessen, announced U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. and Cathy L. Lanier, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

Williams pled guilty in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. The Honorable Robert E. Morin scheduled sentencing for June 21, 2013. The charge carries a statutory maximum of 40 years in prison. Under the plea agreement, the government will ask for no more than 28 years of incarceration, and the defendant will seek no less than 20 years in prison.

According to the government’s evidence, the victim, Hae Soon Lim, 64, was found by police on June 14, 2012, at about 6:15 a.m., on the floor of her delicatessen, Grace’s Deli, in the 700 block of H Street NE. Her vehicle was found parked directly outside. An autopsy determined that Ms. Lim died from a single gunshot wound that entered through the back of her neck.

The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) has a crime surveillance camera located a block away from the delicatessen at 8th and H Streets NE. A review of the video from the camera showed that a vehicle consistent with the appearance of the vehicle belonging to Ms. Lim pulled up and parked in front of the deli at about 5:25 a.m. on June 14, 2012. The video also shows a single person, believed to be the victim, leaving the vehicle and walking toward the restaurant. The video then shows, moments later, a single person crossing H Street rapidly on foot, moving toward the front entrance of the restaurant, where that person then proceeds to interact in close proximity with the person believed to be Ms. Lim.

An empty, brown handgun holster was found on the floor directly next to Ms. Lim’s body. DNA from that holster revealed a match to the defendant. Williams’s DNA was also recovered from an empty cash register located inside the restaurant, behind the counter and out of reach from the customer area.

Williams was charged with the murder in November 2012 and remains in custody.