Two District Men Sentenced to Prison Terms For Shooting That Wounded Four People in 2009
-Attack Took Place in Broad Daylight on Busy North Capitol Street –
WASHINGTON - Deangelo Terry, 25, and Billy Robin, 29, both of Washington, D.C., were sentenced today to prison terms for their roles in a broad-daylight shooting that wounded four people in 2009 in Northwest Washington, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced.
Both men were found guilty by a jury earlier this year of charges of four counts of aggravated assault while armed and related firearms offenses. They were sentenced in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia by the Honorable Ann O`Regan Keary.
Terry was sentenced to 32 years of incarceration. Robin was sentenced to 13 ½ years. Upon completion of their prison terms, both men will be placed on supervised release.
According to the government`s evidence, the attack took place about 4:20 p.m. on May 19, 2009, a warm and sunny day, in the 1700 block of North Capitol Street. Terry, wearing a ski mask and armed with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun, complete with an extended magazine, came around a corner and opened fire on a group of people gathered there. He unleashed a hail of at least 15 bullets, hitting three men and a woman. One man was shot three times in the head, another was shot in the shin and foot, and another was shot in the shoulder and forearm. The woman was hit in the chest, wrist, and ankle.
After firing the shots, Terry ran back onto nearby Randolph Place, where an alert citizen saw the gunman jump into the front seat of a waiting burgundy van, which immediately pulled out and fled the scene. The van had been reported stolen the night before. Robin was the driver of the stolen van, and he led police on a high-speed chase that lasted at least 20 minutes before he crashed the van into a parked car in Prince George`s County. At that point, Robin and Terry were arrested, along with a third man. Although the jury was unable to reach a verdict on the third defendant, that man pled guilty to one count of tampering with physical evidence related to this shooting and was sentenced earlier this month to a period of incarceration of 22 months.
The government`s evidence established that Terry was specifically targeting at least one of the victims. Besides having devastating consequences for the victims, the defendants` actions put many people at risk. The shooting took place at a busy time of day, when countless pedestrians and drivers were in the area. In addition, witnesses described the high-speed chase as extremely reckless, with Robin driving the wrong way down streets, driving into oncoming traffic, and hitting a number of cars before the crash rendered the van virtually inoperable.
In announcing the sentences, U.S. Attorney Machen praised the work of the detectives, officers and crime scene technicians who investigated the case for the Metropolitan Police Department. He also praised those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney`s Office, including Supervisory Paralegal Specialist Mary Downing; Paralegal Specialists Kalisha Johnson-Clark, Crystal Seldon, and Wanda Trice; Jennifer Clark, Katina Adams-Washington, David Foster and Michael Hailey, all of the Victim Witness Assistance Unit; Legal Assistant Latoya Wade; Superior Court Liaison Linda McDonald; Intelligence Specialists Larry Grasso, Frank Morgan and Duncan Templeton, and Litigation Support Unit members Leif Hickling, Josh Ellen and Joe Calvarese. Mr. Machen also thanked Jelahn Stewart, Chief of the Victim Witness Assistance Unit, Assistant U.S. Attorney Chrisellen R. Kolb, who assisted with legal issues, and Michael T. Ambrosino, Special Counsel for DNA and Forensic Evidence Litigation,
Finally, he acknowledged the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Maia L. Miller and Suzanne C. Libby, who investigated and prosecuted the case.
