District Man Sentenced To 36 Years In Prison For 2011 Murder In Northeast Washington-Shooting Followed Carjacking And Robbery-

     WASHINGTON -David E. Warren, 28, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 36 years in prison for the 2011 killing of a man in Northeast Washington, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced. 

     Warren was found guilty by a jury in March 2014, following a three-week trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.  The jury convicted Warren of two counts of first-degree murder while armed during the commission of two separate felonies; second-degree murder while armed; kidnapping while armed; armed carjacking; armed robbery, and related weapons offenses.  He was sentenced by the Honorable Rhonda Reid Winston. Upon completion of his prison term, Warren will be placed on five years of supervised release.

     According to the government’s evidence, shortly before 11 p.m. on May 13, 2011, the victim, Ervin L. Griffin, 32, pulled his SUV into the 1200 block of 18th Street NE, soon after meeting several young women at a nearby bus stop.  While Mr. Griffin was sitting in his SUV, which was parked in the middle of the street, Warren approached and told Mr. Griffin to leave.

     Eventually, Mr. Griffin pulled into an alley off of the 1200 block of 18th Street NE, where Warren entered the passenger side of Mr. Griffin’s SUV and took his keys.  Warren, armed with a semi-automatic firearm, then went to the driver’s side of the SUV, pulled Mr. Griffin out, and demanded money.  Warren, along with others, then walked Mr. Griffin up an alley and into a yard behind 1218 18th Place NE, where Mr. Griffin was shot and killed. 

     Surveillance video from the Metropolitan Police Department’s closed circuit television cameras showed the events leading up to Mr. Griffin’s murder, and showed Warren and others exiting the alley where the murder took place within a minute after the murder.

     In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Machen commended the work of the detectives, officers, and crime scene technicians who investigated the case for the Metropolitan Police Department.  He also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Litigation Technology Specialists Thomas Royal, William Henderson, and Paul Howell; Victim/Witness Advocate Marcia Rinker; and Paralegal Specialists Kelly Blakeney and Mia Beamon.  Finally, he thanked former Assistant U.S. Attorney B. Michael Ortwein, who investigated and indicted the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michelle D. Jackson and Holly R. Shick, who prosecuted the case.