Frank Byrd, a Marriott employee who worked at Leo O’Donovan dining hall, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter on Tuesday.
Earlier this month, Byrd turned himself into Georgetown’s Department of Public Safety. He confessed to accidentally shooting his mother, Shirley Byrd, with a pistol.
When Metropolitan Police Department officers arrived at the Byrds’ home in a public housing project in Southwest D.C., Shirley Byrd was dead.
Byrd, a black man in his early thirties with dreadlocks and a red, striped shirt, looked pensive as the verdict was handed down. Detective Daniel Lewis testified that Byrd was cooperative when arrested. He also supported the claim that the shooting was accidental.
“[Byrd] was visibly upset and seemed to be very remorseful about what had happened,” Detective Lewis said. According to Prosecutor June Marie Jeffries, the weapon that Byrd used was purchased in South Carolina.
It was illegally transported into the District. Lewis said that only one bullet was fired and five bullets remained in the gun.
Judge Rhonda Reid Winston found Byrd not to be dangerous. As a result, he will not go to prison.
According to his attorney, Anthony Matthews, Byrd has been homeless since the incident and has been staying at shelters for several weeks.
Byrd cannot return to the home in which the shooting took place because it belonged to his mother and his name is not on the lease, according to Matthews.
He has a brother living nearby, but Byrd is not comfortable living with family members and will therefore be placed in a halfway house.
Winston ruled that Byrd will be subject to a curfew from 8:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m., as well as weekly drug tests.
Byrd is also required to begin looking for a new job. “I don’t think he can go back to Marriott,” Jeffries said.
After the trial, Byrd was allowed to leave the courtroom unescorted to see a social worker. He later returned to court in the afternoon in order to be transported to the halfway house.
Byrd is scheduled for a status update before the court on Feb. 23. He declined to comment on the trial.
