District Man Sentenced To 38 Years In Prison For 2009 Murder And Separate Sex OffenseIn One Incident, Defendant Shot Man In A Parking Lot; In The Other, He Sexually Abused A 15-Year-Old Girl

     WASHINGTON – Luel Hayes, Jr., 43, was sentenced today to a total of 38 years of incarceration on charges stemming from a 2009 slaying in Northwest Washington and a sexual assault that took place about two months later, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced.

     Hayes, of Washington, D.C., was found guilty in November 2012, following a trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, of second-degree murder while armed and related weapons offenses in the slaying of Rahiem Moore. He pled guilty in January 2013 to one count of first-degree child sexual abuse, stemming from an attack on a 15-year-old girl.

     Hayes was sentenced by the Honorable Ronna L. Beck to a total of 27 years in prison in the murder case and an additional 11 years in the sexual abuse case, to be served consecutively. Following completion of his prison term, he is to be placed on five years of supervised release. In addition, after his release from prison, Hayes must register as a sex offender for 10 years.

     According to the government’s evidence at the murder trial, Hayes shot and killed the victim, Rahiem Moore, 37, at about 9:35 p.m. on June 10, 2009. Before the murder, Hayes, who was angry with Mr. Moore over an earlier dispute, lay in wait by Mr. Moore’s parked car in a lot behind 1310 Columbia Road NW. Once Mr. Moore appeared, Hayes shot him five times in the dark parking lot. He left Mr. Moore to die face down, next to his car.

     Although there were no eyewitnesses to the shooting, Hayes told several people about the murder of Mr. Moore, who also was known as “Spot.” They included the 15-year-old girl, who he sexually assaulted in August 2009 at an apartment in Northwest Washington. After that attack, Hayes pointed a silver revolver at the victim’s face from about three feet away and declared, “If you tell, you already know, I killed somebody named Spot.”

     In announcing the sentences, U.S. Attorney Machen commended the work of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) detectives, officers, and mobile crime technicians who investigated the cases. He also expressed appreciation to the FBI forensic documents examiner who worked on the cases. In addition, he thanked those who worked on the two cases from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Specialists Meridith McGarrity and Jason Manuel; Intelligence Analyst Sharon Johnson; Litigation Technology Specialists Jeanie Latimore-Brown and Leif Hickling, and Victim/Witness Advocates Marcey Rinker and Lezlie Richardson.

     Finally, he acknowledged the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Zubrensky, who investigated and prosecuted the sexual assault case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney David Saybolt, who investigated and tried the murder case.