District Man Sentenced to Over Ten Years in Prison For Beating Two Men at Rooming House

            WASHINGTON – Deonta J. Simms, 34, of Clinton, Md., has been sentenced to over 10 years in prison on charges of assault with significant bodily injury and simple assault for an attack of two men that took place in June 2014 after an argument at a rooming house in Northwest Washington, U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips announced.

            Simms was found guilty by a jury in June 2016, following a trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. He was sentenced on Aug. 19, 2016, by the Honorable Florence Pan. Following completion of his prison term, he will be placed on three years of supervised release.

            According to the government’s evidence, in the early morning hours of June 6, 2014, Simms, who had been visiting and consuming alcohol with residents of a rooming house in the 700 block of Lamont Street, NW, became involved in an altercation with two of the home’s occupants, each of which were men who were approximately 60 years old. The argument turned physical and Simms struck one of the men in the head while inside the house. The argument migrated outside the house and Simms took the second victim down to the ground, where Simms then struck the man in the face multiple times with his fists, and repeatedly kicked the man in the head while he lay on the ground defenseless.

            While the first victim suffered minimal injuries, the second victim suffered multiple lacerations and contusions to his face. He required emergency brain surgery to treat a blood clot, and still suffers some cognitive impairment.

            In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Phillips commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). He also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Victim/Witness Advocate Jennifer Clark; Paralegal Specialists Chae Vang and Donville Drummond; Criminal Investigator Mark Fitzgerald; and Assistant U.S. Attorneys C.B. Buente and Stephen Rickard. Finally, he expressed appreciation for the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Veronica Jennings, who secured the indictment and tried the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Marco Palmieri, who also worked on the case and handled the sentencing hearing.