Reco Pernell Coates III was sentenced to eight years in prison today for the 2007 murder of 39-year-old Anthony Collins. Coates pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter in connection with the case in November. The eight year sentence was agreed upon by both attorneys and approved by Judge William Jackson Friday.
According to plea documents in the case, on November 12, 2007, Coates, along with accomplices, knocked on Collins’ front door, pretending to want drugs.
“This was a gang of robbers teamed up to steal drugs from Mr. Collins,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Shana Fulton.
As Collins opened the door, one of the men shoved a gun through the doorway and yelled, “You know what time it is.”
Collins attempted to barricade the door with his body, but was overcome by the men who were swinging knives. Coates and crew forced their way into the apartment where they continued to cut and stab Collins, before stealing crack cocaine and fleeing the apartment, according to documents.
As a result of the attack, Collins slipped into a coma and remained in the hospital for 46 days until his death on December 28, 2007.
Coates later admitted to police that he was one of the robbers and that the event had led to Collins’ death.
The MPD press release is below. Sentencing documents have been added to this post.
Maryland Man Sentenced to Eight Years in Prison
In Robbery That Led to Victim’s Death
-Victim, Stabbed in the Attack, Died Weeks Later-WASHINGTON – Reco Coates, 22, of Upper Marlboro, Md., was sentenced today to eight years in prison after earlier pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the death of a man following a robbery in Southeast Washington, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced.
Coates pled guilty in November 2012 in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. He was sentenced by the Honorable William M. Jackson. Following completion of his prison term, Coates will be placed on five years of supervised release.
According to the government’s evidence, on Nov. 12, 2007, at about 5:30 p.m., Coates and others set out to rob the victim, Anthony Collins, 39, in an apartment in the 100 block of 34th Street SE. The robbers, including Coates, knocked on the front door and claimed to want to buy illegal drugs from Mr. Collins. When Mr. Collins opened the door, one robber shoved a gun through the doorway and said words to the effect of, “You know what time it is.”
Mr. Collins then attempted to slam the door shut and barricade it with his body as he was being stabbed by the robbers on the other side. The robbers gained entry into the apartment, stabbed and cut Mr. Collins with knives and stole crack cocaine before fleeing.
Mr. Collins was transported by ambulance to a hospital. During the course of his treatment, Mr. Collins’s condition deteriorated. After lapsing into a coma, Mr. Collins died in the hospital on Dec. 28, 2007. A subsequent autopsy determined that the cause of death was complications from the stab wound to the chest and that the manner of death was homicide.
After Mr. Collins’s death, Coates gave a statement to the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) in which he admitted being one of the robbers who participated in the crime. During the litigation, he disavowed these statements.
In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Machen commended the work of the detectives and officers of the Criminal Investigations Division and the Sixth District of the MPD. He also expressed appreciation to those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Assistant U.S. Attorney Sharad Khandelwal (now with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas); Victim Witness Advocates Tamara Ince and Marcia Rinker; Paralegal Specialists Kelly Blakeney and Marian Russell; Librarian Lisa D. Kosow; Kimberly Smith and Leif Hickling of the Litigation Technology Unit, and Interns Roland Achtau and James Perkins. Finally, U.S. Attorney Machen praised the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Shana Fulton and Deputy Chief Michelle Jackson, both of the Homicide Section, who prosecuted the case.
