Deandre Rogers and Deon T. Jenkins were each sentenced today to 32 years incarceration in connection with a 2008 homicide that killed 28-year-old William Foster.
Rogers, 20, and Jenkins, 27, were convicted of first degree murder while armed in August.
Said the US Attorney’s Office:
The murder, which took place on April 14, 2008, resulted in a spate of gang shootings in Northeast Washington during the spring of 2008, involving two rival crews, the T Street/Yellow Brick Road Crew and the Todd Place Crew.
A statement from the US Attorney’s Office is below.
Two Men Sentenced to 32-Year Prison Terms For Killing a Man Who Was Trapped in Traffic- April 2008 Slaying Sparked Other Violence -
WASHINGTON - Deandre Rogers, 20, and Deon T. Jenkins, 27, were each sentenced today to 32 years of incarceration for their roles in the April 2008 slaying of a man who was shot while he sat in his van trapped in rush-hour traffic, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced.
The defendants were convicted by a jury in August 2011 of first degree murder while armed and other charges stemming from the killing of William Foster, 28. They were sentenced today by the Honorable Gerald I. Fisher in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.
The murder, which took place on April 14, 2008, resulted in a spate of gang shootings in Northeast Washington during the spring of 2008, involving two rival crews, the T Street/Yellow Brick Road Crew and the Todd Place Crew.
The evidence at trial established that Foster, also known as “Boo,” the leader of the Todd Place Crew of Todd Place NE, was driving through the unit block of R Street NE, “mugging” on rival crew members, at about 4:50 p.m. Jenkins, the leader of the rival T Street/Yellow Brick Road Crew, saw Foster and dispatched a junior crew member, Deandre Rogers, to shoot and kill Foster as Foster sat trapped in rush-hour traffic at R and North Capitol streets.
Rogers then ran up to the van with a Glock .45 semi-automatic pistol and fired 12 times, point blank, into the driver’s side door. He then calmly jogged back to the car in which he had been riding and rode away from the scene.
The jury convicted Rogers of first degree murder while armed, weapons charges, and obstruction of justice. The jury convicted Jenkins of first degree murder while armed and weapons charges associated with Jenkins’s subsequent arrest with a Mac-11 pistol. A third defendant, who was alleged to be the driver during the homicide, was acquitted by the jury.
“This case shows why targeting gang violence is such a priority for our office. The defendants in this case killed a man in broad daylight on a busy city street, and their gunfire set off even more bloodshed,” said U.S. Attorney Machen. “Thanks to the hard work of law enforcement, these men were brought to justice. Now they will have more than 30 years to consider the consequences of their actions.”
Earlier this year, four members of the Todd Place Crew were convicted of charges stemming from the retaliatory violence that unfolded following Foster’s murder.
In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Machen commended the dedicated and outstanding work of MPD Homicide Detective Harbin “Dean” Combee, the lead detective on the case, as well as Homicide Detectives Alec Mac Bean, Kim Lawrence, Randy Parker, Kristal Boyd and Anthony Greene; Fifth District Officers Jonathan Jordan, Thomas Krmenec, Jose Freeman; Fifth District Detectives Carter Adams and Eric Fenton; MPD Mobile Crime Technicians Julius D. Smith, Ralph Nitz and Michael DePrince and Crime Scene Search Officer Moctema Stevens; First District Detective Stanley Greene, and Vice Officer Sherrie Forester.
He further commended the outstanding efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Specialists Meridith McGarrity, Delissa Rivers and Lashone Samuels; Litigation Technology Unit Specialists Leif Hickling and Josh Ellen; Victim Witness Specialists Marcey Rinker; Intelligence Analyst Sharon Johnson and Assistant U.S. Attorneys David Saybolt and William Woodruff, who prosecuted the case at trial.
