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Press Release

Two Men Sentenced To Decades In Prison For Killing A Man During 2009 Kidnapping And Robbery-Second Victim Was Shot And Wounded-

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Columbia

     WASHINGTON –Keith Logan, 51, was sentenced today to life in prison with no possibility of release, and Paul Ashby, also 51, was sentenced today to a 90-year prison term on charges stemming from the 2009 killing of a man during a kidnapping and robbery, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced.

     Logan, Ashby, and a third defendant - Merle Watson, Jr., 57 - were found guilty by a jury in August 2013 of first-degree murder while armed, with aggravating circumstances, conspiracy, kidnapping while armed, armed robbery, and weapons offenses. Logan also was found guilty of assault with intent to kill while armed, aggravated assault while armed, and mayhem while armed, for shooting a potential witness on the night of the murder. The verdicts followed several weeks of trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.

     The Honorable Herbert B. Dixon, Jr. sentenced Logan and Ashby today. Watson is to be sentenced May 16, 2014. All three defendants are from Washington, D.C.

     According to the government’s evidence, Logan, Ashby, and Watson conspired to kidnap and rob Carnell Bolden, 36. They lured Mr. Bolden into Logan’s residence in the unit block of W Street NW during the early evening hours of Dec. 30, 2009. After beating him unconscious and tying him up, the defendants then went to get Mr. Bolden’s car, which was parked on the block.

     Logan, Ashby, and Watson then discovered that Mr. Bolden’s girlfriend was sitting in the car.  Fearing she would be a witness against them because she might know where Mr. Bolden was going when he left the car, they then decided to kill both of them.

     Ashby drove Mr. Bolden, tied up and unconscious, to the 3000 block of Park Drive SE, where he dragged him into a wooded area adjacent to that block.  He then shot Mr. Bolden twice at close range with a .38 or .357-caliber handgun, killing him.

     While Ashby was on the way to Southeast Washington with Mr. Bolden, Logan approached Mr. Bolden’s girlfriend as she sat in her car.  He stood outside the driver’s window and shot her four times with a nine-millimeter handgun. She was rushed to Washington Hospital Center and survived the attack.

     In announcing the sentences, U.S. Attorney Machen commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), the District of Columbia Department of Forensic Sciences, and the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Va.

     He also thanked those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Victim/Witness Advocates and Specialists Marcia Rinker, La June Thames, Katina Adams-Washington, and Michael Hailey; Paralegal Specialists Sandra Lane, Kendra Johnson, Kwasi Fields, Anthony Griffith, and Antoinette Sakamsa; Litigation Technology Specialists Paul Howell, William Henderson, and Anisha Bhatia; Law Clerks Lauren Sparks and Ryan Lipes, and Criminal Investigators Derek Starliper, Mark Crawford, Nelson Rhone, Chris Brophy, and Melissa Matthews.  In addition, he acknowledged the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alessio Evangelista, who led the grand jury investigation, and Reagan Taylor, who helped prepare the case for trial. Finally, he expressed appreciation for the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael C. Liebman and Erik Kenerson, who tried the case.

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Updated February 19, 2015