Rickey Pharr was sentenced today to 40 years in prison for the shooting death of Angelo Jones in Clay Terrace in 2010.
Pharr, 28, was found guilty of first-degree murder in February.
A press release from the US Attorney’s Office is after the jump.
District Man Sentenced to 40 Years in Prison For 2010 Slaying in Northeast Washington
- Defendant Shot Victim Multiple Times in the Back -WASHINGTON - Rickey Pharr, 28, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 40 years in prison for first-degree premeditated murder while armed, obstruction of justice, and related charges in a slaying in Northeast Washington, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced.
Pharr was convicted by a jury in February 2012, following a two-week trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. He was sentenced by the Honorable Thomas J. Motley.
According to the government’s evidence, Pharr and the victim, Angelo Jones, 31, were both involved in a dice game early October 2, 2010, in a parking lot in the 5300 block of Dix Street NE, when Pharr began to call Mr. Jones “hot,” accusing him of being a government informant. Following an argument between the two, Pharr went to another person and requested a gun, but he eventually left the area near the dice game. Pharr later returned armed with a gun and shot Mr. Jones six times in the back of his body as he tried to walk away from the defendant.
After the murder, Pharr fled to his own neighborhood where he admitted to multiple witnesses that he had just “slumped” a person - meaning that he had killed someone. Pharr then went on to actively hide evidence and recruit his friends to provide false alibis to the police and to his own lawyer.
A second man, Curtis Patterson, 23, of Washington, D.C., pled guilty last month to obstruction of justice and unlawful possession of a firearm for his role in the crime. He is to be sentenced on May 11, 2012, also by Judge Motley.
In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Machen praised the work of those who investigated the case for the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), including Detectives Konstantinos Giannakoulias, James Wilson, Robert Cephas, Anthony Greene, Gabriel Truby, Joshua Branson, Norma Horne, and Michael Wiggins; Sgt. Habbebullah Pettegrue; Officers Robert Elliot and Natali Thomas; Mobile Crime Technicians Kemper Agee, Leother Strong, Pertheria McIver, Tony Nwani, Tina Ramadhan, and Brenda Floyd; Firearms Examiner Michael Mulderig, and Dr. Joseph Pestaner of the District of Columbia Medical Examiner’s Office.
U.S. Attorney Machen also commended the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Criminal Investigator John Marsh; Litigation Technology Specialists Kimberly Smith, Paul Howell, and William Henderson; Victim/Witness Advocate Marcia Rinker; Victim/Witness Services Coordinator Katina Adams-Washington, and Security Specialists Michael Hailey, Maretta Forrest, and Tanya Via of the Victim Witness Assistance Unit, and Paralegal Delissa Rivers. Finally, he expressed his appreciation for the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Reagan M. Taylor, who investigated the case and prosecuted it at trial.
