From the U.S. Attorney’s Office:
Man Sentenced to 50 Years in Prison For the Shooting Death of a Good Samaritan - Teenage Victim Tried to Stop a Robbery -
WASHINGTON – Deangelo Foote, 21, was sentenced today to 50 years of incarceration on charges stemming from the retaliatory killing of a teenager who tried to stop him from robbing another person on the street, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced.
Foote, of Washington, D.C., was convicted by a jury in February 2011 of first degree premeditated murder and various firearms offenses, following a trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. He was sentenced by the Honorable Russell F. Canan.
According to the government’s evidence at trial, at about 12:25 p.m. on July 9, 2009, Kevin Allen, 17, was found unconscious and suffering from multiple gunshot wounds in an alley off the unit block of N Street SW. The investigation established that Foote, armed with a handgun, was attempting to rob one of Kevin Allen’s friends in the alley minutes before the murder.Kevin Allen came to the assistance of his friend. After a brief physical struggle between the robbery victim, Kevin Allen and Foote over the gun, the friend was able to remove the magazine from the firearm and walk to the end of the alley. The friend set the magazine on the ground, and proceeded to run off.
Foote retrieved the magazine and re-inserted it into his weapon. Tragically, Kevin Allen was left in the alley alone with the defendant. Foote then shot him seven times.
Foote was observed and identified by three witnesses, including one who called 911 immediately and gave the defendant’s name and a detailed description of him to the police. In addition, Foote was on probation at the time, and had a GPS device on his ankle that recorded his presence in the alley at the time of the murder.
In announcing today’s sentence, U.S. Attorney Machen praised the efforts of Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Detectives Thomas Webb, Konstantinos Giannakoulias, Eric Fenton, Joshua Branson, James Wilson, Norma Horne, and Robert Cephas; Officers James Gayle, Michael Kasco, Thomas Jones, Eric Walsh, and David Evans, and Technicians Dwayne Mitchell, Tony Nwani, and Tony Lazado, who all assisted in investigating and prosecuting the case. He also expressed appreciation to Brian Moran, of Satellite Tracking of People, Inc. (STOP), a contractor that operates the GPS system for the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency for the District of Columbia (CSOSA).
Mr. Machen also expressed appreciation for the work of the Deputy Marshals who located a terrified and reluctant witness: Floriano Whitwell, Will King, Avon Jackson, William Straw, Bryan Gillespy, Justin Bankert, Jason Matthew, and Chris Johnson. Mr. Machen also praised the efforts of Legal Assistant Lynette Briggs, the Litigation Technology Section, and Witness Security Specialist M. Laverne Forrest, as well as Assistant United States Attorney Michael T. Truscott, who investigated and prosecuted the case at trial.
