WASHINGTON - A 17-year-old illegal alien from Honduras, Hernan Melendez, has been sentenced to a term of 20 years in prison for his role in the brutal fatal beating of 30-year-old Andres Benitez and the assault of a good Samaritan who tried to help Mr. Benitez, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor announced today. Melendez faces the prospect of deportation after serving his prison term.

Melendez was sentenced this afternoon in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia before the Honorable Frederick Weisberg, after a jury found him guilty in May 2008 of second degree murder while armed, assault with a dangerous weapon, and possession of a prohibited weapon.

According to trial testimony, on January 28, 2007, at around 2:00 a.m., the decedent, Andres Benitez, who worked as a dishwasher at Old Ebbitt Grill, was in the 1200 block of 11th Street, NW, when he had an argument with the defendant and two friends. At one point, Benitez ran across 11th Street and retrieved a baseball bat. He then ran back across 11th Street to where the defendant and his friends were standing and swung the bat at the group once, possibly hitting the jacket of one of the men. Melendez and his friends stepped back and then, in the words of one witness, "bum rushed" the victim. They knocked him to the ground and started kicking him.

Melendez' group swarmed Benitez and then Melendez grabbed the bat. As Benitez lay on the ground – face up, defenseless and totally exposed – Melendez started hitting him in the head with the bat. He hit Benitez as many as ten times, until an innocent bystander, who had stepped out of a restaurant on the other side of 11th Street to grab a smoke, rushed across the street to try to break things up. Melendez saw the innocent bystander as he approached and took one swing, hitting him in the head. The bystander retreated and ran back across the street.

Melendez then resumed his attack on Benetiz, pounding him about five more times. Witnesses emphasized the great force with which Melendez was hitting Benitez and the overall brutality of the crime. Melendez finally walked away with his friends. Two security guards who witnessed the murder gave chase and detained Melendez in an apartment building at 1206 10th Street, NW. Melendez still had the bat in his hand. They held him for the police. Benitez died where he fell, his skull brutally crushed.

During the trial, the United States presented a representative of Bode Technologies, who testified that DNA and other tests established that blood found on the back and inside hood of the defendant's jacket came from the decedent. The United States also presented retired FBI Special Agent Robert Spaulding, who testified that the blood was placed on the jacket through contact with an object wet with blood. Mr. Spaulding testified that a baseball bat is the type of object that could have applied the blood.

Melendez denied involvement in the incident when he was arrested on the scene, and continued his denials through trial, where he testified that he was an innocent bystander.

The case was noteworthy because the defendant, who was 16 at the time of the offense, directly challenged the constitutionality of a D.C. statute that authorizes charging a juvenile under the adult murder statute. The defense mounted a vigorous challenge, including submitting numerous studies on incomplete brain development in teenagers. The trial court rejected the challenge and upheld the D.C. statute. The defense relied on many of those same studies at sentencing and argued for a sentence below the statutory guideline range.

Judge Weisberg rejected the defense request. In fact, he noted that defendant's repeated denials of involvement, including his false testimony at trial, indicated a level of development at odds with the concept that he was unable to control himself.

Although not presented at trial, in earlier proceedings it was established that the defendant was illegally in this country. He had illegally entered the United States twice in 2003 and been deported each time. He told the police upon his arrest in this case that he had been in the area eight days at the time of the incident.

In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Taylor praised lead Detective Jacqueline Middleton, Detective Jed Worrell and former Detective Oscar Mouton, who investigated this matter. U.S. Attorney Taylor praised Third District Police Officer Sarah Monter who, as the first officer on the scene, located and interviewed critical witnesses. U.S. Attorney Taylor praised Evidence Technicians Leother Strong, Curtis Lancaster and J.D. Smith, who gathered the evidence in this case and took critical crime scene photographs, as well as providing essential support at trial. U.S. Attorney Taylor praised Investigator Chris Brophy, who located difficult-to-find witnesses. U.S. Attorney Taylor praised Victim Witness Specialists Iris Vega and Yvonne Bryant, who dedicated many hours to working with foreign language witnesses, and Legal Assistant Debra Joyner and Paralegal Marian Russell, who provided critical support efforts. Finally, U.S. Attorney Taylor praised Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Snyder, who investigated and tried this matter.