DC Superior Court Chief Judge Milton C. Lee struck a balance between punishment and rehabilitation in passing sentence on June 6 for a young carjacking defendant who agreed to plead guilty.
Mikhail Ashby, 18, pleaded guilty to armed carjacking and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence for his alleged involvement in a carjacking on Sept. 21, 2024, at a parking lot on the 800 block of Southern Avenue, SE.
Prior to his sentence, defense attorney Lisbeth Sapirstein said that Ashby should be considered under the Youth Rehabilitation Act (YRA) as a result of no prior criminal activity. The YRA effectively seals a defendant’s record if he completes his sentence successfully.
She argued that the mandatory minimum of seven years for an unarmed carjacking should be reduced to three years, arguing this was more than enough time for a teen who was aware of his mistake.
Judge Lee challenged Sapirstein in this, citing an incident in Dec. 2024, where Ashby had been found sleeping with a loaded pistol, as evidence of wider criminal intent.
Ashby’s mother, sister and grandfather had come to see him at his sentence. Sapirstein told the judge that Ashby’s family was distraught and that they had been relying on him as a caretaker.
“Your honour can see his mom with tears in her eyes,” she said.
The prosecution highlighted Ashby’s active involvement in the incident and potential danger to the DC community. They played a surveillance video of the incident for the judge, showing Ashby and two others in masks pulling up to the vehicle and getting in the victim’s car.
Ashby later got out of the car as it was pulling away to rifle through the victim’s pockets.
“Mr. Ashby was not a hanger on,” said the prosecution.
The prosecutor conceded that Ashby committed no prior offences and pleaded guilty on the grounds oat the earliest point. They asked for the court to consider either the mandatory minimum of seven years or a sentence at the top of the lower end of the guidelines for the incident, whichever was higher.
When asked if he wanted to speak, Ashby produced a written statement expressing regret for his actions and hope that he could use education to learn a trade, either as an electrician or mechanic and put the incident behind him.
“I would like to rehabilitate myself in society. I want to be a successful young man,” he said.
Judge Lee said he was disappointed that Ashby found himself in the situation and sympathised with the pain his family was going through. He was wary of the damage that a long sentence might do for Ashby’s life at such a young age and said he wanted him to make a success of himself. However he was clear that he did not condone Ashby’s actions and that he needed to face the punishment.
“You will either meet it or you won’t,” said Lee, referring to the challenges Ashby now faced in improving his circumstances both in his time in prison and for the rest of his life.
He sentenced Ashby to 84 months prison time for the armed carjacking and 60 months for possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, suspending the execution of all but 40 months on both. As the charges were running concurrently this was a total of just over 3 years.
He also gave Ashby an additional three years supervised probation and required a contribution of $100 to the Victims of Violent Crimes Fund for each offense.
Ashby waved to his family as he left the court house following sentencing, with Sapirstein sharing in the family’s relief on the reduced sentence.
