After Four Years, A 15 Year Old’s Killer is Finally Sentenced

By D.C. Witness Staff - July 24, 2019
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Suspects | Victims |

After three trials over the course of four years, a murder defendant was sentenced on July 23.

Derryck Decuir was convicted of second-degree murder while armed against a minor and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence on May 2 for shooting Malik Mercer on the 2800 block of 28th Street, SE in 2015. 

Decuir, 26, was sentenced to 34 years for the murder charge and eight years for the possession charge. The sentences are set to be served concurrently to each other and any other sentence Decuir has received. 

DC Superior Court Judge Craig Iscoe also put in a recommendation for Decuir to be placed in a prison close to the District to keep him close to his family. 

During Decuir’s sentencing on July 23, the prosecution requested that Judge Iscoe sentence Decuir to 30 years. The prosecutor said the request  was “fair” in regards to the evidence provided at trial, including Decuir’s obstruction of justice after the shooting and Decuir’s failure to take responsibility. 

The prosecution sought a consecutive sentence because Mercer was a minor. 

Decuir will “eventually get out of prison and be able to be with his family, Mercer cannot,” the prosecutor said. 

“I’ll never be able to see his face again. All I am left with is 15 years of pictures and memories,” Mercer’s mother told the judge. She requested the maximum sentence as justice for her son’s death.

Defense counsel, Dana Page, requested that the 30-year sentence run concurrently to previous charges. She said she was under the impression that the judge who sentenced Decuir for the possession and obstruction charges “sentenced him as though he got away with murder.” 

On Aug. 8, 2018, Decuir was sentenced to 23 years for unlawful possession of a firearm with a prior conviction, carrying a pistol without a license, tampering with evidence and obstruction of justice. 

Page said the roles of the defendant and the victim could have easily been switched and that the gun violence involved in this case is a “cultural problem.” She said Decuir is a victim of circumstance.

Decuir apologized for, “the violent world we live in today to have an effect on me.”

During earlier trials, Decuir said the shooting was done in self defense because he thought he saw Mercer pull out a shotgun. Decuir and Mercer did not know each other before the night of the shooting. 

Judge Iscoe acknowledged that the case is tragic for both the victim’s family and Decuir. However, Judge Iscoe said that Mercer “will never be back.”