Judge Russell Canan sentenced Alexander Buckley Thursday to 22 years in prison for the shooting death of 18-year-old Siohban Nicole Lee.
Buckley, 22, pled guilty in June to second-degree murder while armed in connection with Lee’s death.
According to plea documents in the case, Lee and Buckley had been communicating through a social media site called “Tagged” about a week before the shooting, and eventually exchanged phone numbers.
During the early hours of January 25, Lee and Buckley exchanged several text messages and phone calls, and they decided to meet around 2 a.m. at a bus stop near 5th and Nicholson Street Northwest.
Plea documents say that while at the bus stop, Buckley shot Lee behind her left ear then took her iPhone and iPod Touch and fled the scene. Lee was found dead at about 3:30 a.m.
Metropolitan Police later found Lee’s iPhone in a closet in Buckley’s home; they also found a 9mm semiautomatic handgun.
Sentencing documents and a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office are below.
District Man Sentenced to 22 Years in Prison For Murder of 18-Year-Old Girl in Northwest Washington Defendant and Victim Met Through a Social Media Website; Victim Killed for iPhone and iPod
WASHINGTON – Alexander Buckley, 22, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 22 years in prison on a charge of second-degree murder while armed for the slaying of a Maryland teenager, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced.
Buckley pled guilty in June 2013 in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. He was sentenced by the Honorable Russell F. Canan. Upon completion of his prison term, Buckley will be placed on five years of supervised release.
According to the government’s evidence, in January 2013, Buckley met the victim, 18-year-old Siohban Lee, through a social media website known as “Tagged,” which allows users to view profiles and photographs posted by other users. Tagged is available as an application to iPhone and Android phone subscribers and allows users to text one another via the Internet. Initially, the defendant and the victim communicated only through Tagged. Eventually, however, they exchanged phone numbers and began to communicate by phone.
Leading up to the early morning hours of Jan. 25, 2013, Buckley and Ms. Lee exchanged several text messages and phone calls, during which she agreed to meet him for the very first time. The defendant provided the victim with instructions to take the bus into the District of Columbia, towards Georgia Avenue NW, where he would meet her. Sometime after 2:15 a.m., on Jan. 25, 2013, he met Ms. Lee in the area of 5th and Nicholson Streets NW. The victim was carrying a purse, and was in possession of both her iPhone and iPod Touch.
At approximately 2:30 a.m., Buckley shot the victim one time in the left side of the head, just behind her left ear, killing her. He took her iPhone and iPod Touch, and, leaving her purse behind, fled the scene. Law enforcement quickly located the defendant, who still had the phone in his possession. As a result, Buckley was arrested just hours after the murder.
In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Machen praised the work of the detectives, officers, and crime scene technicians who investigated the case for the Metropolitan Police Department. He also commended the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Specialists Ethel Gregory and Marian Russell; Lead Paralegal Sharon Newman; and Victim/Witness Advocate Marcia Rinker.
Finally, U.S. Attorney Machen recognized the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberley Nielsen, who investigated and prosecuted the case.
