Maryland Man Sentenced to Prison Term on Manslaughter Charge in 2015 Killing

            WASHINGTON – Milkiyas Bayisa, 27, of Silver Spring, Md., was sentenced today to a 66-month prison term on an involuntary manslaughter charge stemming from the killing of a man in Northwest Washington, U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu announced.

            Bayisa was found guilty of the charge in May 2018, following a trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. He was sentenced by the Honorable Judith Bartnoff. Following his prison term, he will be placed on five years of supervised release.

            According to the government’s evidence, in the early morning hours of Aug. 22, 2015, both Bayisa and the victim, Kassahun Edo, were with their respective friends at the Peace Lounge, in the 2600 block of Georgia Avenue NW. Bayisa frequented the lounge; Mr. Edo, 35, was visiting the Washington, D.C. area from Texas to attend a wedding. At approximately 3 a.m., as Peace Lounge was closing, patrons were spilling out of the club onto Georgia Avenue.  As Mr. Edo and two of his friends walked down nearby Fairmont Street, Bayisa was acting aggressively towards a group of young women. Mr. Edo approached him. Suddenly, without warning or provocation, Bayisa aggressively cocked his right arm back, made a fist and viciously punched Mr. Edo once in the left jaw/head area. Mr. Edo’s body immediately crumpled, and he fell backwards onto the pavement.  He never regained consciousness and died the next day. Bayisa was arrested on Aug. 27, 2015.

            In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. She also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Specialists Kelly Blakeney, Deborah Joyner, Lashone Samuels, and Ethel Noble; Victim/Witness Advocate Jennifer Clark; Victim/Witness Service Coordinators La June Thames and Katina Adams-Washington; Investigative Analyst Zachary McMenamin and Litigation Technology Specialists Anisha Bhatia, Leif Hickling, and Kimberly Smith. Finally, she expressed appreciation for the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Silvia Gonzalez Roman who investigated and indicted the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nebiyu Feleke and Charles Willoughby, Jr., who prosecuted the case at trial.