Two carjacking co-defendants accepted plea deals before D.C. Superior Court Judge Andrea Hertzfeld on Feb. 11.
Laiten Bell, 21, and Cornell Jamison, 21, were originally charged with conspiracy, armed carjacking, assault with a dangerous weapon, assault with significant bodily injury while armed, four counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, and robbery while armed for their involvement in a carjacking that took place on the 4300 block of 3rd Street, SE on Jan. 22, 2025.
Bell’s charges all faced an aggravating factor of being committed during his release for another matter.
Jamison was also charged with carrying a pistol without a license outside a home or business, possession of a prohibited weapon, four counts of possession of an unregistered firearm, and two counts of unlawful possession of ammunition.
According to court documents, the victim of the carjacking suffered soft tissue damage to the left side of her face and lacerations and abrasions to her ribs and back from the defendants’ assaulting her. She stated that she knew Jamison for around 10 years and believed that they targeted her due to where she used to live.
Bell and Jamison both accepted plea agreements from the prosecution during the hearing that required them to plead guilty to unarmed carjacking and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence. Jamison also pleaded guilty to possession of a prohibited weapon, a machine gun.
In exchange, the prosecution dismissed the remaining charges against them. For Bell, prosecutors also dismissed an unrelated misdemeanor case.
If the case had gone to trial, the prosecution would have been able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that on the day of the offense, Bell and Jamison jumped out of a white van with a firearm and repeatedly assaulted the victim. Jamison filmed while they robbed her of her clothes and her car at gunpoint before hitting her with the gun. Following the assault, Jamison then posted the recording of the offense on Instagram.
The prosecutors continued that after the incident, the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) got a search warrant for Jamison’s apartment where they found the victim’s jacket, bank card, and ID, in addition to a black 9 mm Glock 17 handgun with a switch that could turn it into a machine gun.
As part of the plea agreements, parties agreed to a sentence of eight years in prison for Bell and between seven-and-a-half-to-nine years in prison for Jamison. These sentences are subject to the judge’s approval at sentencing.
The parties are slated to reconvene on April 17 for sentencing.
