Judge Sentences Murder Defendant to 8.5 Years in Prison

By D.C. Witness Staff - August 31, 2018
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Suspects |

A prison term of 102 months (8.5 years) is the price a man has to pay for the shooting death of a woman in 2017.

DC Superior Court Judge Danya Dayson sentenced Aug. 31 Aaron Jacobs for the shooting death of Robin Fitzgerald in an apartment on the 700 block of 51st Street, NE on June 21, 2017. Fitzgerald, 41, was a mother of three, according to WUSA9.

“What happened that night was a tragic mistake,” Jacobs said during his apology to the decedent’s family. “I never intended to hurt Robin.”

Jacobs pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter while armed in March. He was initially charged with second-degree murder.

According to court documents, the defendant and his brother had a verbal argument on June 20, 2017. Surveillance footage captured the defendant returning to his brother’s apartment with a handgun, which was later identified as a Taurus .357 magnum revolver. Apparently, Jacobs was high on PCP, a hallucinatory drug, when he fired two shots into a wall. Jacobs then left the apartment.

The bullets went through the wall, striking Fitzgerald in the butt and torso while she laid on a bed in the bedroom, according to the documents. The Medical Examiner of the State of Maryland determined those wounds to be the cause of death.

The question of whether Jacobs knew Fitzgerald was in the apartment when he fired the gun is still unknown. Contrary to the prosecution’s claim, the defense claimed that Jacobs didn’t realize Fitzgerald was in the apartment and didn’t find out he shot and killed anyone until later. Jacobs turned himself in to authorities hours after Fitzgerald died.

Judge Dayson said she took into account the fact that Jacobs took responsibility for a charge that she was not sure the prosecution could prove. She said she agreed to the plea even though the paperwork seemed to indicate involuntary manslaughter more than voluntary.  The judge also said she would recommend Jacobs be held at Federal Correctional Institution Petersburg in Hopewell, Va., where he could receive drug treatment.

Jacobs is also required to serve five years on supervised release after his prison term and pay a $100 fine.