WASHINGTON – Dominique Williams, 24, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 24 years in prison for killing a man in a drive-by shooting in September 2015 in Southeast Washington, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            Williams was found guilty by a jury in March 2018 of second-degree murder while armed, assault with a dangerous weapon, and related firearms offenses. The verdict followed 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.

            A co-defendant, Maricco Knight, 25, also of Washington, D.C., was found guilty by the same jury of acting as an accessory after the fact and obstruction of justice for his role in assisting Williams while Williams was evading law enforcement prior to his arrest. Knight is to be sentenced on May 15, 2018.

            According to the government’s evidence, on Sept. 19, 2015, shortly after 1 a.m., Williams, Knight and another man pulled over a Honda Accord in the 3200 block of 28th Street SE. Williams was in the rear passenger seat, Knight was in the front passenger seat, and the third man was driving. A short distance away from the Accord, gathered in an alley, were three men and an 11-year-old boy.  Williams had earlier disputes with persons who resided or sometimes gathered in the block, but none of those persons was among the group in the alley.

            After the Accord pulled over, Williams leaned out of the car and fired eight shots from a 9-millimeter handgun at the group.  One person was hit – Marcellus Green, 39. He was shot once and was declared dead about an hour later. The three people in the Accord drove off.

            MPD officers were on the scene within a few minutes.  Witnesses gave the police a description of the Accord and its license plate number.  At about 1:40 a.m., an officer in a marked MPD cruiser spotted the Accord, still occupied by the three men, in a different neighborhood.  Before the officer could even activate his emergency equipment, the Accord began to drive off at a high rate of speed.  After a 20-minute chase, during which the 9-millimeter handgun was tossed out, the Accord crashed and all three occupants fled on foot. Within two minutes, the driver and Knight were stopped.

            Williams, however, got away. An arrest warrant was issued for him three months later and he was ultimately apprehended on July 20, 2016, at the residence of Knight’s girlfriend.  During the search for Williams, according to the government’s evidence, Knight assisted in helping Williams hide out despite the fact that he was told repeatedly by law enforcement that Williams was wanted for the murder.

            In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu and Chief Newsham commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. They acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Michael Ambrosino, Special Counsel for DNA and Forensic Evidence Litigation; Forensic Operation/Program Specialist Benjamin Kagan-Guthrie; Litigation Technology Specialist Leif Hickling; Paralegal Specialist Alesha Matthews; Investigative Analyst Zachary McMenamin; former Supervisory Victim/Witness Services Coordinator David Foster; Victim/Witness Security Specialist Lesley Slade; Victim/Witness Advocate Marcia Rinker, and Interns Korey Johnson and Shani Brown.

            Finally, they commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Liebman who investigated and prosecuted the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Ahmed Baset, who prosecuted the case.