United States v. Melvin Knight

KAVANAUGH, Circuit Judge:

Shortly after midnight on January 28, 2013, Tamika Yourse heard gunfire outside her Washington, D.C., home. Looking out her window, she saw two men, one of whom had a gun, trying to force her neighbor Edmund Peters and a woman into Peters’ apartment. Ms. Yourse called 911. A large number of police officers responded to the call and swarmed the premises.

At the scene, the police arrested Melvin Knight and Aaron Thorpe for the D.C. Code offense of kidnapping while armed, as well as other D.C. Code offenses. The next day, Knight and Thorpe appeared in D.C. Superior Court.…