Sentencings Announced of Three Individuals for Homicide and Other Charges

            WASHINGTON – Joseph Brown, 34, was sentenced today for second degree murder while armed, and Rondell McLeod, 30, was sentenced for voluntary manslaughter while armed in the shooting death of 21-year-old Amari Jenkins, on August 18, 2015, in front of St. Luke’s Catholic Church, located at 4925 East Capitol Street, N.E. The sentencings were announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Chief Pamela Smith, of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).  

            The defendants, both of Washington, D.C., admitted that on the day of the murder, they emerged from a blue van that pulled in front of the church, and fired 28 rounds at Mr. Jenkins, before reentering the van and making their escape. 

            In a separate case, Joseph Brown was sentenced for voluntary manslaughter while armed for the shooting of 29-year-old Antwan Baker, on November 12, 2015, in the 5300 block of Clay Terrace, N.E.  In that homicide, Brown admitted he emerged from a vehicle and shot Mr. Baker six times in the back of the head and neck before fleeing the scene.

            Judge Marisa J. Demeo sentenced Brown to 25 years of incarceration for his role in both homicides.  She sentenced McLeod to 10 years of incarceration to run consecutively to an 11-year sentence for federal robbery charges brought in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland.

            Finally, Judge Demeo sentenced Alicia N. McCoy, 28, to two years of incarceration for lying in the grand jury during its investigation of the murder of Amari Jenkins.  Her sentence will run consecutively to a number of felony sentences McCoy is serving in Maryland for violent crimes committed there.

            In announcing the sentencings, U.S. Attorney Graves and Chief Smith commended the work of the officers and detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department who investigated the case. They also thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael P. Spence and Andrea Coronado and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Gilead I. Light, who prosecuted the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office as well as Intelligence Analyst Zachary McMenamin, Victim/Witness Advocate Jennifer Allen and former Victim/Witness Advocate Marcia Rinker.