The owner of an illegal rooming house in D.C. was sentenced to nearly 36 years in prison on Friday for creating what a judge called a “death trap” that killed a 10-year-old boy and a man when a fire broke out in 2019.
On an emotional day in court, Judge Todd Edelman handed down what he called a death sentence to James Walker. He told him he often sentences young people but knows the length of the sentence he imposed to Walker will likely confine him for the rest of his life.
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WATCH HEREAfter a fire broke out at 708 Kennedy St. NW on Aug. 18, 2019, bystanders and D.C. officers tried desperately to remove a locked iron gate. They could hear people inside the home screaming for help.
Ten-year-old Yafet Solomon was trapped in the basement with tenant Fitsum Kebede. Police said the two were found later in each other’s arms. Bruises covered parts of their bodies where they tried to break down a locked interior gate.
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SIGN UP At the sentencing on Friday, Yafet’s mother, Helen Kasay, stood in the well of the court as her attorney read from a statement.
“As immigrants, all we had was each other. We went through a living hell to get to this country, to what we thought was the promised land,” the mother’s statement said in part. “Imagine how I felt when I learned that people outside the house heard my beloved Yafet screaming from inside the burning house, locked like a prisoner inside."
“I have nightmares imagining Yafet screaming helplessly,” she said. “[…] I am numb with grief. I have no more tears to cry.”
Outside the courthouse, Kasay declined to comment but her lawyer, Peter Grenier, said the past five years have been hell for his client.
“I think what makes this so tragic is that Helen didn’t understand or realize that the conditions she was living in were, as the judge said, deplorable – the worst he has ever seen for any slumlord in this city,” he said. “And to think that her beautiful son was taken away, on his 10th birthday no less, it’s impossible to describe how deeply that has torn her apart.”
Walker apologized in court, saying he tried to give housing to people who could not afford it on their own. Walker said he did not do anything intentionally or unintentionally. We was convicted in February on two counts of second-degree murder.
The judge praised Officer Ernie Davis, who discovered the conditions inside the home and warned Walker he needed to bring the building up to code.
But the judge said the city agency responsible for making sure buildings are up to code, the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection, did nothing, which she called “unconscionable.”
Yafet’s mother sued Walker after the fire. In court, he said he is selling properties to satisfy hundreds of thousands of dollars he agreed to pay.
The child’s mother now celebrates and mourns on her son’s birthday.
