A Maryland man has entered an Alford plea to charges of voluntary manslaughter and driving under the influence of PCP for the February 23 death of a pedestrian in downtown D.C. 33-year-old James Chandler Jr. of Silver Spring entered the plea in D.C. Superior Court Thursday. Chandler’s plea is not a concession of guilt, but rather an acknowledgment that prosecutors had sufficient enough proof to convict him. He agreed to the plea because he was high on the drug PCP at the time of the tragic incident and has no recollection of what had happened. According to investigators, Chandler drove his SUV onto the sidewalk during rush hour and hit a retaining wall outside the Government Accountability Office near the corner of 4th and H streets NW. The impact caused the vehicle to flip and roll several times, before hitting 27-year-old lawyer Philip Snodgrass (of Baldwin, Maryland), who had been walking on the sidewalk at the time. Snodgrass was transported to a local hospital, where he later passed away. Chandler was traveling almost 35 miles per hour over the speed limit at the time of the wreck. He never hit the brakes or attempted to avoid the crash. Chandler is set to be sentenced on July 17, and faces a maximum prison sentence of thirty years.
