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LOU CHIBBARO JR
Friday, November 28, 2008
Two
of
the
three
gay
men
indicted
last
week
on
an
obstruction
of
justice
charge
for
the
August
2006
murder
of
attorney
Robert
Wone
were
cleared
for
supervised
release
after
pleading
not
guilty
at
a
D.C.
Superior
Court
arraignment.
At
the
request
of
prosecutors,
Judge
Frederic
Weisberg
agreed
Nov.
21
to
drop
the
government’s
earlier
request
that
Joseph
Price
be
held
on
$100,000
bail.
Price,
his
domestic
partner,
Victor
Zaborsky,
and
a
former
housemate,
Dylan
Ward,
were
indicted
Nov.
19
on
the
obstruction
of
justice
charge
in
connection
with
Wone’s
murder.
In
a
combined
bail
hearing
and
arraignment
Nov.
21
for
Price
and
Zaborsky,
Weisberg
agreed
to
the
government’s
new
request
that
the
two
men
be
released
without
having
to
post
bail.
Under
the
release
arrangement,
the
two
men
must
wear
an
electronic
ankle
bracelet
that
monitors
their
whereabouts
and
must
be
confined
to
their
homes
during
a
10
p.m.
to
6
a.m.
curfew.
The
terms
of
their
release
also
prohibit
them
from
having
any
contact
with
Kathy
Wone,
Robert
Wone’s
widow,
or
any
member
of
the
Wone
family,
and
requires
that
the
two
undergo
regular
drug
tests.
Assistant
U.S.
Attorney
Glenn
Kirschner,
the
prosecutor
in
the
case,
declined
comment
after
the
hearing
when
a
reporter
asked
why
the
government
decided
to
drop
its
earlier
request
that
Price
post
$100,000
bail.
Wone,
a
prominent
Washington
attorney,
was
found
stabbed
to
death
in
the
guest
bedroom
of
the
Dupont
Circle
townhouse
where
Price,
Zaborsky
and
Ward
lived
in
August
2006.
Ward,
who
recently
moved
to
a
suburb
of
Miami,
was
arrested
on
the
obstruction
of
justice
charge
four
weeks
ago
by
authorities
in
Florida
at
the
request
of
D.C.
police.
In
a
separate
arraignment
held
Tuesday,
Weisberg
agreed
to
release
Ward
into
the
same
pre-trial,
supervised
release
program
he
approved
for
Price
and
Zaborsky.
Weisberg
also
scheduled
a
Dec.
9
status
hearing
for
all
three
defendants.
Prosecutors
were
expected
to
make
a
request
at
the
hearing
that
the
three
men
stand
trial
together.
A
spokesperson
for
the
U.S.
Attorney’s
office
said
Zaborsky
was
arrested
Nov.
21
after
he
surrendered
to
police
under
a
prior
arrangement
with
prosecutors.
Price
was
taken
into
custody
24
hours
earlier
after
surrendering
to
police.
During
an
earlier
arraignment
for
Price
on
Nov.
20,
courtroom
observers
were
startled
when
Zaborsky
entered
the
courtroom
as
a
spectator
to
watch
the
arraignment
along
with
friends
of
Price
and
Ward.
Zaborsky
sat
on
the
opposite
side
of
the
spectators
seating
area
from
where
Kathy
Wone
was
sitting.
Sources
familiar
with
the
case
said
prosecutors
most
likely
made
arrangements
for
Zaborsky
to
surrender
to
authorities
the
following
day,
allowing
him
to
observe
his
partner’s
court
proceeding
as
a
spectator.
The
three
men
have
said
they
believe
an
intruder
killed
Wone
after
entering
the
house
through
a
rear
door
while
they
were
asleep
in
their
bedrooms.
Investigators,
however,
have
said
that
crime
scene
evidence
made
it
unlikely
that
an
intruder
entered
the
house
on
the
night
of
the
murder.
Speaking
through
their
attorneys
last
year,
the
men
said
they
have
cooperated
with
the
police
investigation
and
voluntarily
gave
DNA
and
fingerprint
samples
to
authorities.
In
an
e-mail
sent
last
week
to
friends,
Price
solicited
contributions
for
a
legal
defense
fund
to
help
the
three
men
pay
legal
expenses.
He
called
the
obstruction
of
justice
charge
“meritless”
and
characterized
as
“inexplicable”
the
police
“theory
that
we
were
somehow
involved
in
Robert’s
death.”
Wone
was
a
friend
of
Price
from
their
days
as
students
at
the
College
of
William
and
Mary
in
Virginia.
He
had
been
spending
the
night
at
Price’s
house
on
the
night
of
the
murder
after
working
late
at
his
D.C.
job
as
general
counsel
for
Radio
Free
Asia.
He
lived
with
his
wife
in
Oakton,
Va.
After
Price’s
earlier
arraignment,
Kirschner
declined
to
say
why
Zaborsky
had
not
been
arrested
as
of
Nov.
20.
At
the
request
of
prosecutor
Kirschner,
nearly
the
entire
proceeding
at
the
Nov.
20
arraignment
was
held
at
the
judge’s
bench
in
private.
Price
remained
silent
during
the
proceeding
except
to
respond
to
a
request
by
the
courtroom
clerk
that
he
speak
his
name
for
the
record.
“Joseph
Price,”
he
replied.
Price,
an
attorney,
has
worked
for
the
prestigious
Washington
law
firm
Arent
Fox.
The
firm
announced
last
month
that
he
would
take
a
leave
of
absence
following
the
release
by
police
of
a
detailed
affidavit
in
support
of
the
allegation
that
Price,
Zaborsky
and
Ward
obstructed
justice
in
the
Wone
murder.
According
to
the
14-page
affidavit,
the
three
men
allegedly
hindered
the
police
investigation
by
“orchestrating
the
crime
scene,
planting
evidence,
delaying
the
reporting
of
the
murder
to
authorities
and
lying
to
the
police
about
the
true
circumstances
of
the
murder.”
The
affidavit
adds
that
evidence
in
the
case
“demonstrates
that
Robert
Wone
was
restrained,
incapacitated,
sexually
assaulted,
and
murdered”
inside
the
home
where
the
three
men
lived
at
1509
Swann
Street,
N.W.
It
says
the
city
medical
examiner
who
performed
an
autopsy
on
Wone’s
body
believes
someone
restrained
Wone
in
the
bed
where
he
may
have
been
sleeping,
possibly
by
placing
a
pillow
over
his
face,
and
injected
him
with
a
paralytic
drug.
The
autopsy
found
multiple
needle
marks
on
different
parts
of
his
body
that
authorities
say
appear
to
have
been
caused
by
a
syringe.
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