Neither Chamontae Walker nor Corey Yates pulled the trigger of the gun that killed Darrel Hendy on Sept. 10, 2010, but Judge Thomas Motley sentenced both men to decades in prison on Friday for their involvement before, during and after the Southeast D.C. murder.
Walker was sentenced to 40 years in prison for first-degree murder while armed, to be served concurrently with lesser sentences for conspiracy, accessory to murder after the fact, and assault of a police officer.
Yates was sentenced to 24 years in prison for second-degree murder and 12 years for being an accessory after the fact, to be served concurrently.
“It’s really sad all the way around,” Ainge Hendy, Darrel Hendy’s father, said after the sentences were announced. “It’s devastating for all of the families. It’s a tragedy that these kids continue to—that they don’t value human life.”
The trigger man, Meeko Sha Carraway, pled guilty to first-degree murder in February and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
During the trial, Walker’s ex-girlfriend testified that the two had broken up just hours before the murder occurred, and that Walker and Hendy had been friends but had stopped speaking to each other. She said that Walker believed Hendy wanted to kill him.
A friend of Walker’s testified that the day Walker broke up with his girlfriend he was angry and said the only way for him to feel better would be if “someone died that day.”
According to evidence presented at trial, Walker, Yates and Carraway traveled to a high rise apartment building in the 800 block of Southern Avenue Southeast, where Yates located Hendy’s car and told the others that they should “suit up.”
The three then entered the apartment building, where Walker gave Carraway a 9mm pistol and ammunition. A short time later, the three left the building and Carraway shot Hendy seven times in the back.
After the murder, an arrest warrant was issued for Carraway, and Walker and Yates helped him flee to North Carolina.
Yates has also pled guilty to an unrelated murder in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Motley said Friday that Yates is to serve this sentence consecutively with any sentence that results from that case.
A press release from the U.S. Attorney’s office follows:
Two District Men Sentenced to Decades in Prison For 2010 Murder in Southeast Washington
-Third Defendant, the Gunman, Earlier Pled Guilty, Sentenced to 25-Year Term-WASHINGTON – Chamontae A. Walker, 36, was sentenced today to 40 years in prison and Corey D. Yates, 23, was sentenced to a 24-year prison term on charges stemming from their participation in the murder of a man in Southeast Washington, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced.
The defendants, of Washington, D.C., were found guilty in August 2012 of charges in the murder of Darrel Hendy. The jury verdicts followed a trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.
Walker was convicted of first-degree premeditated murder while armed, conspiracy, acting as an accessory after the fact, and assault on a police officer. Yates was convicted of second-degree murder while armed and acting as an accessory after the fact. Both men were sentenced this afternoon by the Honorable Thomas J. Motley. Upon completion of their prison terms, the defendants will be placed on five years of supervised release.
A third defendant, Meeko S. Carraway, 20, also of Washington, D.C., pled guilty in February 2012 to second-degree murder while armed and has been sentenced to a 25-year prison term.
According to the government’s evidence, on the afternoon of Sept. 25, 2010, Walker met with his close friends Carraway and Yates at a house in Washington, D.C. At the time of the meeting, Walker was upset after an argument with his then-girlfriend and believed that the relationship was over. During this meeting, Walker expressed feelings that Carraway and Yates were now his only friends, and that someone needed to die.
A short time later, the three defendants traveled together to a high-rise building in the 800 block of Southern Avenue SE, where they targeted the victim, Mr. Hendy, 29.
Upon seeing Mr. Hendy’s vehicle, Yates made a statement that they should “suit up.” Walker, Yates and Carraway entered an apartment in the high-rise building, where Walker gave a nine-millimeter pistol and ammunition to Carraway. Shortly thereafter, the defendants left the high-rise building together, intent upon locating and killing Mr. Hendy. They saw him in a parking lot across the street on the Maryland side of Southern Avenue.
Carraway made a statement to Walker to the effect that he was about to shoot Mr. Hendy in the parking lot. Walker, however, instructed him not to shoot Mr. Hendy at that time because there were cameras in the area. A short time later, Mr. Hendy crossed Southern Avenue, back into the District of Columbia, and began walking in the direction of the high-rise.
Recognizing their opportunity, Walker and Yates began to follow Mr. Hendy. Walker, in the presence of Yates, gestured to Carraway to approach Mr. Hendy from behind. At about 3:45 p.m., in the presence of Walker and Yates, Carraway approached Mr. Hendy from behind and shot him multiple times. Mr. Hendy died as a result of multiple gunshot wounds.
On Sept. 28, 2010, an arrest warrant for first-degree murder issued for Carraway. Walker and Yates assisted him in traveling to North Carolina in hopes of avoiding arrest by law enforcement.
In announcing the sentences, U.S. Attorney Machen praised the detectives, officers and crime scene technicians who worked on the case from the Metropolitan Police Department, as well as the deputy marshals from the U.S. Marshals Service who aided in the investigation.
He also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Witness Security Specialists David Foster, Katina Adams, and Debra Cannon; Victim Advocate Marcia Rinker; Paralegal Specialists Cynthia Muhammed, Kristy Penny, and Marian Russell; Legal Assistant Charmonique Price; Litigation Technology Specialist Joshua Ellen; Criminal Investigator Tommy Miller; Criminal Analysts Shannon Alexis and William Hamaan, and Michael T. Ambrosino, Special Counsel for DNA and Forensic Evidence Litigation. Finally, he expressed appreciation to Assistant U.S. Attorneys Emily A. Miller and Sharon Donovan, who prosecuted the case.
