District Man Sentenced to 17 Years for Murder of Southeast Man

            WASHINGTON – Antoine Little, 26, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced yesterday to 17 years in prison for the 2018 murder of Southeast resident Curtis Barnum, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            Little pled guilty in April, 2019, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, to second-degree murder while armed. He was sentenced by the Honorable Danya Dayson on September 6, 2019, to 17 years in prison, to be followed by 5 years of supervised release. 

            According to the government’s evidence, on October 9, 2018, the defendant, Antoine Little, approached the Valero gas station at 3710 Minnesota Avenue, Northeast, where he encountered the decedent, Curtis Barnum, who had stopped to put gas in his white pickup truck.  After shouting at the decedent, the defendant walked over to the decedent’s pickup truck and entered it through the passenger side door. Within moments, the defendant stabbed the decedent in the chest with a knife.  The defendant then opened the driver’s side door and pushed the decedent out of the truck. While the decedent lay on the ground, the defendant rifled through the decedent’s pockets and robbed the decedent of some of his belongings.  The defendant then kicked the decedent’s feet out of the truck, closed the driver’s side door, and fled the scene.

            In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu and Chief Newsham commended the work of those investigating the case from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). They acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Meridith McGarrity; Victim Advocates Karina Hernandez and Jennifer Allen; and Supervisory IT Specialist Leif Hickling. Finally, they commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Gilead Light, who investigated and prosecuted the case.