DC Superior Court Judge Judge Danya Dayson sentenced a fatal shooting defendant to 167 months in prison, with all but 150 months suspended, on June 26.
On Feb. 27, Damion Brown, 26, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter while armed for his involvement in the fatal shooting of 21-year-old Jordan Coates on Sept. 9, 2023 on the 1200 block of Duncan Place, NE. Coates sustained two gunshot wounds to the chest.
The parties agreed to a sentence between 15 to-19 years. During the hearing, Coates’ family and friends gave victim impact statements.
“She did not deserve to die in such a violent and senseless way,” Coates’ aunt said. She said Coate’s mother died of a “broken heart” after the murder of her daughter and she wants the court to consider the “devastating impact” Coates’ death left on her family when considering sentencing.
“I just wish he [Brown] would’ve done something differently, I just wish there would’ve been a different outcome,” Coates’ father said.
“I believe the man who took her life should remain incarcerated for a meaningful period of time,” a close friend of Coate’s said. “If his transformation can prevent another family from experiencing heartbreak, perhaps some good can come out of this tragedy.”
The prosecution called Brown’s actions “deliberate, knowing, and calculating,” and argued that Brown committed the shooting while he was on release from a prior armed robbery charge, wearing an ankle monitor and in possession of a gun. She said the plea offer given was “generous.”
Lauren Morehouse, Brown’s attorney, told Judge Dayson that Brown spent the past three years in jail trying to shed his old identity and showed effort “to be better, aim higher, and atone for the actions he wishes every single day he could take back.”
Morehouse said that Brown “knows nothing that he says is going to change what happened” but he “firmly recognizes the permanence of the harm he has caused” and recognized the sentencing will be lengthy. Morehouse requested a sentence of 16 years, suspending all but 15 years.
Brown told the court, “I have changed, I have grown, I’m not the same Mr. Brown” and claimed he wants to have a future.
The defense identified specific Federal Bureau of Prisons (BoP) programs that would help Brown rehabilitate through dual diagnosis treatment that would provide both mental health and substance abuse support, mentioning the Residential Drug Abuse Treatment program.
Morehouse told Judge Dayson that a lengthy period of probation is important for Brown’s rehabilitation. She said it’s easier to access the Office of Rehabilitation on probation or supervised release, expediting direct contact with an attorney and the court for increased responsiveness.
Judge Dayson said she doesn’t take lightly the fact that “Mr. Brown was on supervision in one case when he committed manslaughter in this case.”
She said that each of the instances involving the use of a firearm show the magnitude of Brown’s decisions given the effort needed to acquire a firearm illegally.
Judge Dayson acknowledged Brown’s acceptance of responsibility is “significant” and mentioned that while Brown’s late mental health diagnosis does not provide an “excuse,” it gives “context” to his case.
Brown is required to serve five years of supervised release and five years of probation.
Judge Dayson set several conditions for Brown’s probation, including an order to participate in dual diagnosis treatment, a substance abuse assessment upon prison release, connection with the Mayor’s Office on Returning Citizen Affairs and the Office of Rehabilitation and Development within 48 hours of release, registration as a gun offender, maintaining full time employment or part time employment with schooling , and a substance abuse and mental health assessment by the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency upon release.
No further dates were set.
