Washington, D.C. – A 23-year-old District man, Bruce Marshall, has been sentenced to 16 years of incarceration in connection with his near-fatal shooting of another District man on March 26, 2007, inside a Northwest market, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor announced today.

Marshall received his sentence earlier today in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia before the Honorable Harold L. Cushenberry, Jr. On June 26, 2008, after a 5-day jury trial, a Superior Court jury found Marshall guilty of aggravated assault while armed (gun), mayhem while armed, related firearm charges, tampering with physical evidence, and obstruction of justice.

At trial, the government’s evidence established that in the morning hours of March 26, 2007, Marshall shot a man in the face with a pistol at a distance of no more than four to five feet while inside the Amanuel Market at 3661 Georgia Avenue, NW. Although surveillance footage from the store’s security cameras captured the shooting, Marshall was not clearly identifiable due to the limited quality of the footage alone.

After the shooting, Marshall fled and in the following days effectively avoided detection and capture by the police by among other things: (1) enlisting his then-girlfriend to retrieve and destroy a title document to a car connecting him to the crime scene; (2) vacating his home and attempting to flee the country to Jamaica; and (3) telling his girlfriend to lie to the police, if questioned. Despite the defendant’s efforts, MPD detectives ultimately identified him as the assailant and arranged for his apprehension in Maryland. The victim nearly died of the gunshot wound to his head, and although saved after undergoing emergency brain surgery, still suffers permanent physical and neurological injuries.

In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Taylor commended the work of Detectives Jed Worrell, Jacqueline Middleton, Thomas Braxton, and Kenneth Goldberg of the Violent Crime Branch, Officers Charles Johnson, Billie Davis, and Sean Hill of the Third District, Technicians Ralph Nitz, William Hyatt, Grant Greenwalt, Christina Ramadhan, Dwayne Mitchell, Charles Graham, Jay Gregory, and John Holder of the Mobile Crime Unit, Captain Michael Eldridge of the Intelligence Fusion Division, and Officer Luciano Morales of the Firearms Examination Section. He also commended Paralegal Specialist Kalisha Johnson-Clark, Thomas Royal, Kimberly Smith, and Errol Spears of the Litigation Technology Section, and Victim Witness Advocate James Brennan. Finally, he commended Assistant U.S. Attorney Pat Martin and Jamila Hoard, who investigated and prosecuted the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kacie Weston, who investigated and indicted the case.