AUSA VICKIE E. LEDUC at 410-209-4885

APRIL 7, 2006

MEMBER OF NORTH AVENUE BOYS SENTENCED TO OVER 7 YEARS IN PRISON FOR WITNESS RETALIATION

BALTIMORE, Maryland - Shawn Henry, age 29, of Baltimore was sentenced today to 87 months in prison followed by 3 years of supervised release for retaliation against a federal witness, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein . The sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz is consecutive to a 30 year prison term which Henry is already serving. Henry and his co-defendants, Dante Faulkner, age 26 and Tyrell Fields, age 35, both of Baltimore, pled guilty to witness retaliation on February 13, 2006.

In a statement of facts provided to the court as part of their plea agreements, the defendants admitted that on February 7, 2005, they were scheduled to begin trial in a case in which all of the defendants had been charged with federal drug trafficking crimes, crimes of violence and firearm offenses punishable by up to life imprisonment without parole, as part of a drug trafficking group known as the North Avenue Boys. Prior to the trial date the government had provided to the defense materials pertaining to a government cooperating witness, including transcripts of the witness’s testimony in two official proceedings in which the witness had implicated the defendants in drug trafficking and acts of violence. In addition, in the course of jury selection on February 7, 2005, the witness’s name was announced in open court and it was also listed on the government’s proposed witness list.

After a jury was selected, the defendants pled guilty to various crimes arising from their participation in the drug conspiracy and a series of related shootings and murders, and were transported by the U.S. Marshal to the Maryland Reception, Diagnostic and Classification Center (MRDCC). The defendants were placed in a group holding cell pending their return to the respective state or federal institution from which they had been transported for trial. Once inside the cell, Henry, Faulkner and Fields encountered the witness, who had been transported that day to testify as a government witness. The defendants confronted the witness with the fact that he had been named in their court papers and that he was there to testify against them. The witness denied this, at which point he was assaulted by the defendants, who knocked him to the floor and punched and kicked him in the face, head and body until they were stopped by DOC personnel. The defendants were separated from the witness and removed from the cell.

Judge Motz previously sentenced Faulkner and Fields to five years in prison consecutive to the sentences they were already serving of 40 and 25 years, respectively.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the investigative work performed by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Baltimore City Police Department. Mr. Rosenstein also thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Purcell, who prosecuted the case.