SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

CRIMINAL DIVISION - FELONY BRANCH

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, : Criminal Case No. 2008 CF1 30319

:
v. : Judge Lynn Leibovitz
:
JOSEPH A. JENKINS, :
aka “BOOGIE,” :
Defendant. : CSD: January 14, 2011

UNITED STATES’ (REVISED) MEMORANDUM IN AID OF SENTENCING

The United States of America, by and through its attorney, the United States Attorney for

the District of Columbia, respectfully submits this memorandum in aid of sentencing. On

November 12, 2010, defendant Jenkins was convicted after a jury trial of seventeen felony

counts, including First Degree Murder While Armed, Assault with a Dangerous Weapon, two

counts of Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Crime of Violence, one count of

Obstruction of Justice, two counts of Carrying a Pistol Without a License (prior felony), two

counts of Felon in Possession, and eight counts of Criminal Street Gang offenses. Defendant’s

convictions reflect his commission of a reign of terror on the Lincoln Road community of

Northeast, Washington, D.C. His conduct evidences four aggravating factors established by the

Superior Court Voluntary Sentencing Guidelines. For these reasons, we urge the Court to

sentence defendant to a period of incarceration at the upper end of his Guideline Range of 37

years to 111 years imprisonment.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND OF THIS CASE

Having recently presided over a nine-week trial, the Court is intimately familiar with

defendant Jenkins’ offense conduct. From April 14, 2008 to July 25, 2008, Jenkins was the
leader of a criminal conspiracy to retaliate against members of the T Street Crew for numerous

offenses, most importantly the murder of Jenkins’ half-brother William Foster, aka Boo. The

conspirators themselves were a subset of a criminal street gang, the Todd Place Crew. At every

event of the conspiracy, Jenkins was the driving force and leader of a violent campaign to wage

gang war in the Lincoln Road neighborhood of northeast Washington, D.C.

* The morning after Foster’s murder, Jenkins met up with six other conspirators and
gang members to plot a retaliatory drive-by shooting of any T Street member.

* The retaliatory drive-by was only launched after Jenkins received a phone call
telling him the location of T Street Crew member Deon Jenkins. Jenkins left first,
the leader of a two-car caravan bent on murder.

* At the scene of the murder, Jenkins, along with defendant Darnell Anderson, was
one of two shooters. He and Anderson not only killed T Street Crew member
Gary English, but wounded an innocent bystander, 64-year old John Green who
was walking up the street to a barbecue. Jenkins stands convicted of First Degree
Murder While Armed, ADW, two counts of PFCOV, weapons charges, and five
counts of Criminal Street Gang for this incident.

* Jenkins believed that the murder of English was justified even though he
acknowledged that English had nothing to do with the murder of Foster. As
Jenkins told witness Jermaine Moore, who was unable to testify to this statement
on Akins grounds, “they did that to Boo, so I did that to Freak!”

* Three days after the homicide, Todd Place Crew members abandoned one of the
murder weapons in the Mt Olivet Cemetery. Jenkins took crew member Edward
Warren back to the spot to look for the gun so police could not find it. He was
unsuccessful. But when prompted by Anderson on a phone call to go get the gun,
Jenkins told him he had already looked but it wasn’t there. Jenkins was convicted
on Obstruction of Justice and Criminal Street Gang for this incident.

* In the aftermath of the murder of Gary English, and the arrest of Darnell
Anderson, Robert Davenport and Obbie English, Jenkins took the 16-year old
Edward Warren “under [his] wing,” according to the jail calls. Warren was new
to the crew, and had already demonstrated a shocking willingness to commit
murder at the slightest provocation, but Jenkins indoctrinated Warren in the ways
of the gang beef.

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 * Three weeks after the homicide, Jenkins and Warren, both armed, encountered T
Street Crew member Antonio Ingram, aka Sike, in the 1700 block of Lincoln
Road. Although Ingram appears to have had a gun – he never fired it. Jenkins
and Warren shot at him twenty-six times. Jenkins, according to the testimony of
uninvolved eyewitness Omar Ibrahim, stood over the prostate Ingram and shot
him multiple times. Ingram miraculously survived. Although the jury acquitted
Jenkins on all but weapons charges for this offense, this use of excessive force by
Jenkins can and should be considered by the Court in determining Jenkins’
sentence.

* Two weeks after the Ingram shooting, co-conspirators of Jenkins,’ including

defendant James Bates, shot T Street Crew members Chaquon Wingard and
Ricardo Russell as they sat on a porch with five to six other persons.

* On July 25, 2008, defendant Jenkins and two other persons fired over thirty
rounds at a group of T Street Crew members and friends as they gathered on
Lincoln Road on a Friday night. Six people were injured. Although the jury
acquitted Jenkins of this event, the gun Jenkins used to shoot Ingram on May 10
was used on the scene, and one of the T Street associates on the scene identified
Jenkins as a shooter to police and then recanted.

* The violence on the streets ended with the arrest of defendant Jenkins on July 26,
2008. Total number of victims shot by Jenkins was ten: Gary English, John
Green, Antonio Ingram, Kevin Whitmon and five others. Additional victims shot
by Todd Place conspirators was three: Dante Vaughn, Chaquon Wingard and
Ricardo Russell.

II. FACTUAL BACKGROUND OF OTHER CRIMINAL CONDUCT BY

DEFENDANT

Evidence presented at trial, as well as evidence discovered to counsel and proffered to the

Court, established that defendant Jenkins had been selling crack cocaine in the unit block of

Todd Place from on or about 2000 to 2008. Despite sporadic employment, the only times

Jenkins was not selling drugs in the area were his two periods of incarceration during that period.

Evidence of Jenkins drug selling came in the form of prior narcotics arrests and cooperator and

other insider testimony. In the PSI, Jenkins admits to selling drugs, and that his father, Joseph

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Jenkins Sr, and his half-brother, William Foster, both sold drugs as well. Jenkins knew well the

costs that the drug trade demands, because both his brother and father were murdered.

Jenkins was no stranger to guns. He was arrested in a search warrant in 2001 in the

presence of crack cocaine, marijuana and a firearm. He operated as a leader of a crew that

possessed and shared numerous illegal firearms.

The jury found that Jenkins was a member of a criminal street gang, the Todd Place

Crew. Evidence established that the crew sold drugs, carried weapons, obstructed justice and

retaliated against others from 2000 to 2008. Jenkins’ membership in the Todd Place Crew made

his decision to retaliate that much more dangerous for the community. Because Jenkins had so

many ready-made and well-armed co-conspirators, Jenkins was able to inflict far greater damage

on the rival crew and the community than if he had acted alone.

Once in jail, Jenkins continued to participate in violence. The government put on

evidence of three jail stabbings between T Street and Todd Place crews. One of these involved

Jenkins. Jenkins got into a knife fight with T Street Crew member Deandre Rogers in Rogers’

cell. Although Jenkins got the worst of the fight, the location of the knife fight suggests that

Jenkins attempted, unsuccessfully, to take the fight to Rogers.

III. SENTENCING CALCULATION

A. Statutory Minimums and Maximums

The charge of First Degree Murder While Armed carries a statutory mandatory minimum

sentence of thirty years imprisonment and a maximum of sixty years imprisonment, and at least

five years of supervised release. The charge of Assault with a Dangerous Weapon (ADW)

carries a maximum sentence of ten years imprisonment and at least four years of supervised

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release. The charge of Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Crime of Violence

(PFCOV) carries a mandatory minimum of five years imprisonment and a maximum of fifteen

years imprisonment, and three years of supervised release. The charge of Carrying a Pistol

Without a License (Prior Felony) carries a maximum sentence of ten years imprisonment and

three years supervised release. The charge of Felon in Possession carries a maximum sentence of

ten years imprisonment, and three years of supervised release, in addition to a mandatory

minimum penalty of not less than one year imprisonment that cannot be suspended. The charge

of Obstruction of Justice carries a maximum sentence of thirty years imprisonment and a

minimum sentence of three years imprisonment, five years of supervised release and/ or a fine of

up to $10,000. The crime of Criminal Street Gang carries a maximum penalty of five years

imprisonment and/or a fine of $5,000.

B. Merger

Defendant was convicted of two counts of PFCOV - the government concedes that these

two counts merge. Although the shootings of Gary English and John Green were committed

against different victims, they occurred as part of the same incident. United States v. Matthews,

892 A.2d 1100, 1106 (D.C. 2006); Nixon v. United States, 730 A.2d 145, 153 (D.C. 1999).

Because defendant will appeal, the United States would request the Court impose concurrent

sentences for convictions that will ultimately merge, and refrain from vacating any convictions

until defendant has concluded his appeals.

Defendant’s substantive offenses do not merge, however. Convictions for assaults on

independent victims do not merge. United States v. Black, 755 A.2d 1005, 1009 (D.C. 2000);

James v. United States, 718 A.2d 1083, 1087-88 (D.C. 1998).

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 C. Consecutive vs. Concurrent Sentencing

Pursuant to Chapter Six of the Superior Court Voluntary Sentencing Guidelines, two of

the convictions in this case must be sentenced consecutively. Both of the assault charges, the

First Degree Murder While Armed (Count 5) and the ADW (Count 7) must be sentenced

consecutively because they involve multiple victims in one event. Section 6.1 (“The following

sentences must be imposed consecutively: For multiple crimes of violence: multiple victims in

multiple events; multiple victims in one event, and one victim in multiple events for offenses

committed on the same day.”)

With respect to the other counts, the Court has discretion to sentence them either

consecutively or concurrently. Sections 6.1 and 6.3.

The government urges the Court not to impose concurrent sentences as to defendant’s

eight Criminal Street Gang convictions. In the sentencing of Edward Warren on January 12,

2011, the Court decided to impose its two sentences for Criminal Street Gang consecutive to all

other sentences but concurrent to each other. The Court was careful to impose a consecutive

sentence to give dignity to the D.C. Council’s decision to pass a Criminal Street Gang statute.

This decision was appropriate - for an offense committed “for the benefit of, at the direction of,

or in association with” a criminal street gang, 22 D.C. Code Section 951 (b)(1), is rendered more

dangerous to the community thereby, and more deserving of punishment. But surely not all

Criminal Street Gang convictions should be run concurrent to each other. That exercise of

judicial discretion would impose the same penalty for gang behavior on a defendant that

committed many gang-related crimes as on a defendant that committed only one or two.

Here, defendant Jenkins committed many gang-related crimes. He was convicted of (1)

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the gang-related murder of Gary English; (2) the gang-related shooting of John Green; (3) the

gang-related obstruction of justice on April 19, 2010; and (4) the gang-related weapons charges

associated with the shooting of Antonio Ingram, aka Sike. The government suggests that the

approach of Chapter Six of the Guidelines is instructive. Where sentences for the underlying

offenses must be imposed consecutively, the accompanying Criminal Street Gang offenses

should also be imposed consecutively to the substantive offenses and to each other. Where the

Court has discretion to impose concurrent or consecutive sentences for the underlying offenses,

the Court has discretion about whether to impose the accompanying Criminal Street Gang

offenses consecutive or concurrent to each other (but consecutive to other offenses).

Following this approach, the Court could impose consecutive Criminal Street Gang

offenses for the shootings of English and Green, and exercise its discretion as to whether to make

the Criminal Street Gang offenses for the obstruction and Ingram weapons charges concurrent or

consecutive. Because the Court ran the Criminal Street Gang charges for the obstruction and

Ingram weapons offenses concurrent to each other for defendant Warren, the government does

not oppose this approach here. But given the number of crimes, we encourage the court to

impose that Criminal Street Gang sentence consecutive to the two other Criminal Street Gang

counts. Thus, the gang charges for the obstruction and Ingram weapons offenses would be run

concurrent to each other and consecutive to all others, and the gang charges for the English

murder and the Green ADW would be run consective to each other and to all others as well.

With respect to the Criminal Street Gang convictions accompanying PFCOV convictions,

the government proposes that the Court impose consecutive sentences where the PFCOV

sentences are run consecutive, and concurrent sentences where the PFCOV sentences are run

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concurrent or merge as a matter of law.

D. Sentencing Guidelines Calculation

Defendant’s criminal history is category “B.” Defendant’s two CPWL convictions permit

probationary or split sentence. Defendant’s two Felon in Possession convictions permit a split

but require a one-year mandatory minimum. Defendant’s eight Criminal Street Gang convictions

permit a probationary or split sentence.

The government calculates defendant’s guidelines range as follows:

Count & Charge Minimum Maximum Consecutive or Concurrent

Count Five: First Degree 360 720 Consecutive
Murder While Armed
Count Six: PFCOV* 60 96 Consecutive
Count Seven: ADW John 24 66 Consecutive
Green
Count Eight: PFCOV* 60 96 Concurrent/merger
Count Nine: CPWL 10 28 Discretionary
Count Eleven: Felon in 12 28 Discretionary
Possession
Count Twelve: Obstruction 48 96 Discretionary
of Justice
Count Twenty-one: CPWL 10 28 Discretionary
Count Twenty-three: Felon in 12 28 Discretionary
Possession
Count 51: CSG (Count 5 10 28 Discretionary (recommend
M1WA) consecutive)
Count 52: CSG (Count 6 10 28 Discretionary (recommend
PFCOV) consecutive)
Count 53: CSG (Count 7 10 28 Discretionary (recommend
ADW) consecutive)

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Count 55: CSG (Count 9 10 28 Discretionary
CPWL)
Count 57: CSG (Count 11 10 28 Discretionary
Felon in Possession)
Count 58: CSG (Count 23 10 28 Discretionary (recommend
Obstruction) consecutive)
Count 67: CSG (Count 21 10 28 Discretionary (recommend
CPWL Ingram ) consecutive but concurrent
to Count 58)
Count 68: CSG (Count 23 10 28 Discretionary
Felon in Possession Ingram)
Guidelines minimum (sum 444 months
of minimum for bolded (37 years)
counts)
Recommended Guidelines 484 months
minimum (sum of bolded (40 years, 4
counts plus counts where months)
consecutive sentencing
recommended)
Guidelines maximum (sum 1342 months
of all maximum guidelines (111 years,
sentences except those 10 months)
counts that will merge)
Guidelines Range: 444 months (37 years) to 1342 months (111 years, 10 months)
* denotes calculation different than that set forth in PSI.

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IV. SENTENCING RECOMMENDATION

Defendant comes before the Court having been convicted of seventeen felony offenses,

including a First Degree Murder While Armed, one ADW, and eight counts of Criminal Street

Gang. More important, in a short three and one-half month period, Jenkins participated in the

shootings of ten people. He was responsible as a co-conspirator for the shooting of two more.

The United States asks the Court to impose a high end sentence because his offense

conduct reflects four aggravating factors. First, one of the victims, 64-year old innocent

bystander John Green, was “particularly vulnerable due to age.” Sentencing Guidelines Section

5.2.2 (2). Second, Jenkins shootings were “substantially premeditated” and exhibited a high

degree of planning, especially the murder of Gary English. Section 5.2.2. (4). Third, the

retaliatory shootings in which Jenkins participated were “significantly related to organized

crime.” Section 5.2.2. (6). Fourth, the number of people shot (12) represents a degree of

violence wrought upon the community that is not reflected in defendant’s convictions and

therefore forms a “substantial and compelling basis” that aggravates substantially the seriousness

of the offense. Section 5.2.2. (11).

Moreover, Jenkins took a leadership role in organizing and executing these retaliatory

shootings. It was Jenkins principally who organized the attacks, who mentored the younger crew

members, and whose arrest finally brought the violence on the street to an end.

Nor can defendant Jenkins blame drug addiction or family context for his plight. He uses

marijuana only. Although his father’s side of the family was steeped in the drug trade, his

mother’s side was not. According the PSI, both his mother and grandmother continued to

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support him even after he wholly disregarded his mother’s rules. Defendant chose his crew

lifestyle himself.

We also request the Court consider the impact on the community. In April 2008, the

Lincoln Road community was awash in retaliatory violence. During the week of April 14, 2008,

the Fifth District experienced 5 murders – William Foster, Gary English, Darvel Stewart,

Lieutenant Harris, and a fifth unrelated homicide. The Court is familiar with the first three

homicides, committed by T Street, Todd Place and Eddie Warren respectively. Lieutenant Harris

was murdered with the same gun used to kill William Foster and the case remains unsolved.

That violent week marked the beginning of a violent three-month period in the community.

Although defendant Jenkins was not solely responsible for this violence, he was a leader of Todd

Place violence, and bears some responsibility for T Street violence because Jenkins’ own

retaliation spurred additional retaliation by the rival crew. Since Jenkins’s arrest, this kind of

retaliatory violence has almost disappeared from the Lincoln Road area. The community impact

statements previously forwarded to the Court bear that fact out.

Finally, the Court should consider that defendant Jenkins’ errors are not the mistakes of a

young man, but of a fully-formed criminal mind. Jenkins was 26 at the time of these shootings –

he is now 29. As the report writer concluded, he remains a “high risk to the community.” PSI at

29. He shows little deference for life, and evidences no responsibility or remorse for his actions.

Id. This Court can have no confidence that defendant Jenkins, if released at any age, will not

remain a danger to the community.

The sentencing guidelines recommend a sentence of 37 to 111 years. Defendant’s

sentence should be in the upper half of that range. At the very least, we submit that there is no

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principled reason to go below the midpoint of that range – 71 years.

A just, fair, and appropriate sentence in this case requires that the defendant be sentenced

to a substantial period of incarceration at the upper end of his guideline range of 37 to 111 years.

Respectfully submitted,

RONALD C. MACHEN JR.

UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

Sincerely,

David P. Saybolt
DAVID P. SAYBOLT
ERIC GALLUN
ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEYS

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I HEREBY CERTIFY that a copy of the foregoing United States’ (Revised)

Memorandum in Aid of Sentencing has been served, by email with telephone notification, upon
counsel for defendant this 13th day of January, 2011.

____________________________________
DAVID P. SAYBOLT
Assistant United States Attorney

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