Washington, D.C. – A 20-year-old Silver Spring, Maryland man, Jamel Mackabee, was sentenced today by District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Frederick Weisberg to 25 years of incarceration for the January 20, 2007, assault upon a security guard, and killing of an innocent bystander, Taleshia A. Ford, announced U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor. Ms. Ford was struck by the bullet meant for the security guard working at the now closed Club Smarta/Broadway, a go-go club located at 1919 9th Street, NW, Washington, D.C.

On April 22, 2008, Mackabee was found guilty by a jury of Second Degree Murder while Armed, Assault with a Deadly Weapon, two counts of Possession of a Firearm During a Crime of Violence, and Carrying a Pistol without a License.

The government’s evidence established that on January 20, 2007, a female associate of Mackabee’s was smoking marijuana inside of Club Smarta/Broadway. A security guard working there forcibly ejected her from the club. She became enraged at the security guard and pledged to return. While outside of the club, she met up with Jamel Mackabee, and informed him of her ejection from the club. She and Mackabee went back to the club at approximately 2:20 a.m. Mackabee was armed with a pistol. Mackabee refused to be patted down for weapons, and threatened the security guards at the door. He then rushed into the club, made his way up the stairs, and encountered another security guard different than the one who had ejected Mackabee’s associate earlier that night. Mackabee pistol-whipped the security guard, pointed the pistol at him, and fired. He missed, but struck an innocent bystander, 17-year-old Taleshia A. Ford, who died from the single shot to her chest.

Ms. Ford was pronounced dead at Howard University Hospital at approximately 2:55 a.m. that same day. Her body was then transported to the D.C. Medical Examiner’s Office where an autopsy was performed by Carolyn H. Revercomb, MD, who determined that the cause of death was a gunshot wound through the chest and right arm. Dr. Revercomb ruled the manner of death a homicide.

In announcing today’s sentence, U.S. Attorney Taylor commended several officers of the Metropolitan Police Department, including lead Detective Bryan Waid, Detectives Daniel Whalen, William Xanten, Milton Norris, Dan Lewis, Daniel Wagner, Manuel Gaffney, Gail Brown, and Brian Kasul, Mobile Crime Lab Technicians Kemper Agee, Kevin Jeter, Tony Nwani, Julius “J.D.” Smith, and Ridley Durham, Officers Gregory Jones, Michael Smith, Charles Culver, Adrian Harris, Norman Kenney, Randy Twyman, and Edward Harper, Firearms Examiner Luciano Morales, Unified Communications Officer Lauren Twyman, Montgomery County, Maryland Police Department Detective Jacques Cowan, and Deputy Medical Examiner Carolyn Revercomb, MD. Lastly, the U.S. Attorney thanked Paralegals Ethel Noble and Phil Aronson, Legal Assistants Mary Doster and Debra Joyner, Victim Witness Advocate Marcia Rinker, and Litigation Services Technicians Ron Royal and Tyrone Bowie, who assisted with case preparation, former Assistant U.S. Attorney Magdalena Boynton, who initiated the investigation and obtained the original indictment, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert J. Feitel and Fernando Campoamor, who obtained the superseding indictment, and further investigated and tried the case.