Judge Sentences Murderer to 10 Years for Fatal Stabbing

By D.C. Witness Staff - October 23, 2019
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Suspects | Victims |

A judge sentenced Oct. 23 a murder defendant to ten years in prison for killing a young woman.

Deangelo Thorne, 29, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter while armed in July for stabbing 23-year-old Waliyatou Amadou on the 1400 block of W St., NW on Jan. 8, 2017. He was initially charged with second-degree murder while armed. 

“There is a certainty of conviction by plea opposed to uncertainty of trial,” said DC Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman.

Judge Edelman said he accepted the plea deal because, even though he wanted to sentence Thorne to more than ten years in prison, he would have to put the case back in pre-trial, which would have taken longer to get a conviction.

However, the amount of time of the conviction did not sit well with Amadou’s family.

“Ten years,” said Amadou’s brother. “Is that all a life is worth?”

The brother told the court how much pain he had been in since the loss of his sister.

The brother said he went to look for Thorne after the stabbing and considered taking the law into his own hands. However, he had faith in the justice system and remained nonviolent.

“The pain, the loss, the guilt I feel inundates me,” he said

Thorne’s defense attorney, Matthew Davies, asked Judge Edelmn to accept the plea deal and requested that he recommend placing Thorne at Federal Medical Center Butner, a federal medical prison in North Carolina.

Davies said Thorne has struggled with mental health issues all his life and placement at Butner would help him recover.

According to court documents, Amadou’s death was the result of a dispute between her and Thorne. Amadou was found in the laundry room of an apartment building with multiple stab wounds. There is no evidence that suggests Thorne and Amadou were in a romantic relationship.