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By
Jeff Levine
- December 13, 2024
Daily Stories
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Non-Fatal Shooting
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Suspects
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Her voice breaking, Natasha Mack,41, repeatedly said she was sorry for a shooting that prosecutors say caused the victim great physical and emotional harm.
“I am very disappointed and ashamed at what has brought me here today,” said Mack in a proceeding before DC Superior Court Judge Jennifer DiToro on Dec. 13.
“I am asking for forgiveness.I am going to do better,” continued Mack.
Her statements of contrition came during Mack’s sentencing, along with co-defendant, Stephen Moorer, 43, for an incident that occurred on Jan. 26 at an apartment on the 400 block of Chesapeake Street, SE.
In October, the pair accepted a plea offer – Mack to assault with a dangerous weapon and carrying a pistol without a license. Moorer agreed to charges of assault with a dangerous weapon and unlawful possession of a firearm with a prior crime of violence. Moorer was convicted of manslaughter in 1997.
According to court documents, robbery may have been the motive in that the victim had just received a $2,000 divorce settlement. Prior to the shooting, police say, Mack appeared in the victim’s apartment with a handgun saying, “I just got this new baby.”
When Mack later returned with Moorer, the victim was getting her hair done. Then there was a demand for money, which led to Moorer’s shooting the victim in the shoulder. In an attempt to get away she ran out of the building and jumped over a fence.
“This was a very traumatic experience” which triggered pre-existing trauma, said the prosecutor, noting the victim still has bullet fragments in her shoulder.
In particular, the prosecutor said the victim felt a very deep sense of betrayal because Mack was like her second mother. Adding to the irony, Mack is a nurse’s assistant who received a service award for her work at a nursing home during the COVID pandemic.
In asking for consecutive sentences of 48 months and 12 months on the charges respectively, the prosecutor said two of Mack’s grandchildren were in the apartment during the shooting.
Arguing for an 18-month suspended sentence for time served, Mack’s attorney, Erin Griffard, said Mack is “a caregiver at heart,” and provides the sole support for her children and grandchildren.
“She deeply, deeply regrets her involvement” in that she never intended to shoot the victim, said Griffard. Further, Griffard said that the victim was high on “boot”– an increasingly prevalent street drug derived from synthetic bath salts that is intoxicating but can lead to aggressive behavior.
Of Mack’s behavior on release, Judge Di Toro said, “You have done everything we could have asked you to do.” Even though you inflicted great harm, said the judge, “No one is defined by doing one bad thing.”
Mack was sentenced to 18 months suspended for time served on the assault with a dangerous weapon charge and ten months suspended on the carrying charge with 12 months probation with a stay away order from the victim.
The prosecutor said, Moorer “was actually the one that fired the gun. You committed a very, very serious crime.”
The prosecution recommended Moorer serve 72 months for assault with a dangerous weapon and 42 months for committing a crime of violence with a prior conviction.
“I’m sorry for what I did,” Moorer told the court. “I had a good life…I lost my life,” he said, referencing a $25 an-hour “dream job” as a crossing guard.
In passing the sentence the judge told Moorer, ”I don’t have to lecture you. What you did was an incredibly reckless decision.”
Moorer’s sentence for assault with a dangerous weapon is 60 months with 24 months suspended. On the unlawful possession count, the term is 36 months in prison. He also has an 18-month probation. The sentences are set to run concurrently.
No further hearings were scheduled.