In the winter of 2015, a quiet evening in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was shattered by violence that would ultimately claim the life of 35-year-old Curtis Clayton. On December 23rd, masked gunmen forced their way into a garage near North Peoria Avenue and East 44th Street North in an attempted armed robbery. During the commission of the crime, Curtis Clayton was shot and killed.
Police say Clayton was shot in the head.
The investigation into the murder led authorities to 19-year-old Geomari Day'on Washington. In an attempt to conceal his involvement, Washington, who was wearing a mask during the home invasion, checked himself into two different hospitals using false identities. He claimed to have been shot in the nearby city of Broken Arrow. However, investigators were able to connect him to the crime through forensic evidence. The victim's blood was discovered on Washington's pants, directly linking him to the scene of the murder.
Geomari Washington was arrested and faced a number of charges, including first-degree murder, attempted robbery with a firearm, possession of a firearm, and obstructing an officer. After a trial, a jury deliberated for over ten hours before finding him guilty on all counts. In April of 2018, Washington was formally sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of Curtis Clayton. He also received concurrent sentences for the other charges. His subsequent appeals, which cited claims of prosecutorial misconduct, judicial error, and ineffective assistance of counsel, were denied in November 2020.
