How are Homicide Convicts Sentenced in DC?

By D.C. Witness Staff - December 12, 2018
Featured | Infographics | Policy |

In an effort to minimize unfair sentences, District of Columbia Superior Court judges determine sentences through a chart that applies to all charges, including repeated offenses.

The Voluntary Sentencing Guidelines Manual, which was first implemented in 2004, aligns a defendant’s criminal history score and their charge, which is ranked by severity.

Between 2015 and 2017, DC Superior Court judges sentenced 73 felons in connection to homicides, according to D.C. Witness data. Of that number, 68 felons pleaded guilty after entering into a plea agreement. The remaining five were found guilty by a jury.

Regardless of the method, all felons sentenced in the District are sentenced per the terms of the guideline. While the guideline is not mandatory, there is still more than a 97 percent compliance rate, according to the commissions’ 2017 annual report.

According to the guideline, an offense’s severity increases a defendant’s sentence. The sentence is also increased by prior convictions. 

With regard to DC homicides, there are eight main charges that recur throughout sentencing:

• First-degree murder while armed,
• First-degree murder,
• Second-degree murder while armed,
• Second-degree murder,
• Voluntary manslaughter while armed,
• Voluntary manslaughter,
• Involuntary manslaughter while armed, and
• Involuntary manslaughter.

Each sentence has a declared maximum and mandatory minimum.

Graphic by Thamar Bailey; Hourglass by James Cottell via the Noun Project

• First-degree murder while armed carries a maximum sentence of life without release and a mandatory minimum of 30 years in prison. First-degree murder carries the same conditions as first-degree murder while armed.
• Second-degree murder while armed carries a maximum sentence of life in prison and a mandatory minimum of either five or 10 years in prison based on whether or not the defendant is being sentenced on one or more firearm charges. Second-degree murder carries a maximum sentence of life in prison and has no mandatory minimum.
• Voluntary manslaughter while armed carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a mandatory minimum of either five or 10 years in prison based on whether or not the defendant is being sentenced on one or more firearm charges. Voluntary Manslaughter carries a maximum sentence of 27 years in prison and has no mandatory minimum.
• Involuntary manslaughter while armed carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a mandatory minimum of either five or 10 years in prison based on whether or not the defendant is being sentenced on one or more firearm charges. Involuntary Manslaughter carries a maximum sentence of 27 years in prison and has no mandatory minimum.

None of the 73 felons were solely sentenced on first-degree murder or first-degree murder while armed, according to D.C. Witness data. More than half were sentenced solely on the following charges:

• Second-degree murder while armed (17 felons),
• Second-degree murder (5 felons),
• Voluntary manslaughter while armed (11 felons),
• Voluntary manslaughter (13 felons),
• Involuntary manslaughter while armed (1 felon), and
• Involuntary manslaughter (2 felons).

While all 73 felons were sentenced within the constraints of the mandatory maximum and minimum sentences, there are instances where lesser charges and greater charges were given inconsistent sentences.

According to DC Superior Court Judge Milton Lee, sentences are given based on the circumstances of the case.

For example, in 2017 Tayvon Felton, 21, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, which carries a 30-year maximum sentence, but he was sentenced to 14 years in prison for his role in the fatal stabbing of 32-year-old Cortez Lamont Clark. Clark was killed on the 300 block of Parkland Place, SE in 2015.

In contrast, Damontay Holliway, 26, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder while armed in 2015, was also sentenced to 14 years in prison. Holliway’s charge stems from his involvement in the shooting death of 27-year-old Marcus Alston on the 2700 block of Langston Place, SE earlier that same year.