Joseph McCrae was sentenced today to 18 years in prison for the 2010 shooting death of Jonathan Estep.
A press release from the US Attorney’s Office is after the jump.
District Man Sentenced to 18-Year Prison Term For 2010 Murder in Northwest Washington- Defendant Had Just Been Released From Prison at the Time of the Murder -
WASHINGTON - Joseph McCrae, 24, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 18 years in prison on a charge of second-degree murder while armed stemming from a slaying that took place in 2010 in Northwest Washington, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced.
McCrae pled guilty in June 2012 in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and was sentenced today by the Honorable William M. Jackson. Upon completion of his prison term, McCrae will be placed on five years of supervised release.
According to the government’s evidence, McCrae is a member of a criminal street gang, or crew, that is centered in the area of 17th and Euclid Streets NW. The crew has been in a longstanding conflict with another crew based in the area of 14th and Girard Streets NW.
McCrae’s brother, Darrell Goins, was murdered in December 2008, and a member of the rival crew from 14th and Girard was charged with the crime. McCrae, who has previous convictions for weapons and other offenses, was incarcerated from late 2008 until about April 2010, when he returned to the District of Columbia. Weeks after his return, according to the government’s evidence, he carried out a murder in revenge for the killing of his brother.
On July 10, 2010, at about 8:30 p.m., McCrae and several other members of the crew from 17th and Euclid Streets were in a vehicle near 11th Street and Columbia Road NW when McCrae ordered the driver to stop. He got out of the vehicle and approached Jonathan Estep, 24, who was walking on a sidewalk with another man. Without warning, McCrae fired a semiautomatic handgun at both men in an effort to kill them. Mr. Estep was struck multiple times and died afterward. The other man was wounded. After re-entering the vehicle, McCrae stated words to the effect of “on my brother.”
Mr. Estep had no known connection to the murder of McCrae’s brother beyond his association with the same neighborhood as the person originally charged with the crime.
In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Machen commended the work of the detectives, officers and technicians who worked on the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. He also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Specialists Sharon Newman and Phaylyn Hunt, Intelligence Analyst Lawrence Grasso, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Gee, who prosecuted the matter.
