Murder Defendant Receives 55 Year Prison Term

By D.C. Witness Staff - June 25, 2018
Court | Homicides | Suspects |

A DC Superior Court judge sentenced June 22 a defendant to nearly 55-years in prison for two murders.

In 2015, Joseph Minor murdered Gregory Lee on Christmas Eve on the 1200 block of Stevens Road, SE. In April, a jury convicted Minor, 27, of first-degree murder while armed, possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, assault with a dangerous weapon and unlawful possession of a weapon during a crime of violence. Judge Judith Bartnoff sentenced Minor to 47 years for the 2014 homicide.

Minor also pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter while armed in 2017, receiving an additional sentence of more than eight years. After his prison term, Minor will be required to serve five years on supervised release.

According to court documents, a witness said Minor shot Lee, 28, and Minor’s co-defendant, Maurice Blakey, shot another person. The other person survived. The witness told officers at the Metropolitan Police Department that Minor and Blakey, who was 25 at the time, got into a verbal confrontation with Lee. News outlets reported the shooting occurred because of a dispute over a stolen jacket. 

Blakey is currently serving a 22-year sentence for second-degree murder.

“This is a family that doesn’t get to celebrate Christmas anymore,” the prosecution told the judge.