Only 13 years. Ridiculous.

Wow. SMH, how is this not life in prison? Especially considering the extensive criminal history noted? Wow.

The whole thing is a mess.

> According to a plea agreement, Harris admitted confronting the victim within the 2300 block of 18th Street NE and shooting him nearly a dozen times. Miller had been walking through the area with another adult, an infant carried in a car seat, and a 5-year-old child whose hand he was holding when the attack took place.

> Miller’s wounds included four gunshots to the face and neck, and he died at the scene. His children and the other adult with him were uninjured. Harris escaped by car and was labeled a fugitive, but was arrested just over two months later on one charge of voluntary manslaughter while armed.

> At the time, D.C. police Cmdr. William Fitzgerald called Miller’s killing “one of the most horrible things we’ve had here in the Fifth District in several years.”

> Court documents outlined Harris’ “significant criminal history” before murdering Miller, including prior convictions for unlawful firearm possession, robbery and assault throughout D.C. and Prince George’s County, Maryland.

Significant prior criminal history, sought out and drove across the city to shoot someone in the face multiple times walking with their children, fled the scene and was a fugitive for two months, and then eventually arrested for manslaughter and get 13 years? This is a joke.

> In pleading guilty, Harris told prosecutors he regretted his actions and sought to spare Miller’s children from the trauma that would result from a trial.

Now he cares about the children?

> The defendant’s actions with regard to this case are devastating not only because they led to the loss of Sedrick Miller’s life, which weighs heavily on his family. But also because they led to the traumatization of (his) children,” prosecutors said in a sentencing memo.

> “The government remains extremely concerned with the particularly brazen and dangerous nature of the defendant’s crime, which not only involved the loss of a person’s life, but also involved the defendant shooting in a residential neighborhood, in the presence of children, in the early morning hours of a school day.”

Do they, though?

> The U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia recommended a 13-year prison sentence followed by five years of supervised release, citing Miller’s history of violent crime and to “afford him an opportunity to seek rehabilitation that he desires.”

I guess not. This is a mess.

This is the sort of sentence I expect for some lesser degree of murder or manslaughter. This was an assassination.

Based on the article I totally agree. Not sure how anyone could see it any differently.

This is ridiculous and yet, not surprising. I know someone whose husband was murdered in a carjacking. That guy got 15 years. I don’t know wtf is wrong with our courts. This case the 13 years came from the DA.

What a travesty of justice.

>“afford him an opportunity to seek rehabilitation that he desires.”

Like he hasn't already had that opportunity with any of his prior convictions?

It seems like if you are an average person, the government really doesn't give 2 shits about your life.

What a pathetic prosecutor.

What was the motive of this horrible crime? Did he see a young father with his children and just decide to shoot him? Life without the possibility of parole - anything less is not justice

And this is why people are upset about the crime. Fuckin 13 years? WEAK. SAUCE.

I wonder what criminals would do if the penalties for violent crime included castration and/or amputation?

Sure that’s cruel and unusual, but isn’t lighting up some dude in front of his kids the same?

They will be supervising the additional crimes.

They ain’t want to drag it out so offered him a measly 13 to plead guilty.

If he goes in today, that piece of shit will be younger than the dude he clipped when released.

13 years is a complete joke for this crime. I hate to say it, but the Judiciary Committees in Congress need to haul up the USAO to testify.

13 years. How many will he actually serve?

Assuming it’s Federal time, 85% is the minimum so 132.6 months for perfect behavior

Is manslaughter in DC automatically federal?

Are my reading comprehension skills deteriorating? I cannot parse this headline 🫣

All of the felonies are federal.

Seems light but maybe the evidence wasn’t strong enough for trial. Personally I’d prefer he gets 13 years in the electric chair but it’s an imperfect world.

I thought there were exceptions but I misunderstood

They have surveillance video of the murder and him standing over the victim and firing multiple shots. Link to the affidavit outlining the evidence to support the arrest warrant below:

affidavit

One small thing, the article incorrectly characterizes the charge for which Miller was actually arrested. His arrest warrant charged him with First Degree Murder While Armed (Premeditated). It was his plea deal that got him voluntary manslaughter.

If by federal, you mean prosecuted by the US Attorney's office, then yes. But the charges are local (DC) charges, not federal (US) charges.

Is this the DA? https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/meet-us-attorney

Part of the “progressive justice” movement bs. This guy deserves life in prison full stop no questions asked.

It's pretty badly written. It makes it sound as if a man was walking with some children and then shot his own father.

Only like 60 years ago this would be a unequivocal death sentence.

They would have two eyewitness supports and surveillance footage.

They just literally don’t give a shit if people die.

Yes

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The OAG handles district code. But the charges are prosecuted by federal attorneys in a federal court and you to to federal prison.

DC Superior Court is not a federal court. It’s judges are picked by the president and confirmed by the Senate, but it’s not in the federal system. DC inmates who are convicted of felonies go into the BOP system because of a 1997 law enacted by Congress.

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Luckily this guy will probably only serve like 5 years and be released to be a reformed, productive member of society

I'd love to hear from someone who knows what they're talking about here.

Is the issue with potential jury selection? I.e. do prosecutors think there's a bigger risk of losing in a jury trial vs the plea (yes, despite the evidence).

Re: jail as a deterrent (a bit rambly)

One of the tragedies of criminal justice, is the perverse glorification of getting “locked up” by far too many young kids. So like jail is not a deterrent. I was listening to this podcast on Drink Champs and Bobby Shmurda was basically saying , “eh, jail! All good I know folks there, I’m good, what’s a couple of years”…and yet you also don’t want to indimiscritely ruin people’s lives for weed. But you don’t see C Murder glorifying jail because once you are behind bars for 20, 30 years now that makes you think. It’s not just 2 years then you out and you are almost (from their perspective) better off for it with the cred and connections of jail.

I hope people will see the larger point I’m making—and yes ofcourse 13 years is bullshit.

Structural oppression forced him to murder this man, he can’t be hell fully responsible

The Nation’s Capital legalizes and minimizes criminal behavior.

He was raised in a subculture that justifies shooting somebody for insulting you

Jail doesn’t have to be a deterrent, it should lock away uncivilized violent people who can’t function in society.

You’re making the false assumption that these violent criminals have the capacity to think about consequences of their impulsive braindead behavior

And nearly incentivizes vigilantism.

What

Well then we better get more creative on actual deterrents, since most of us would like to stop crime before it even happens in the first place.

Why not do both things?

Figure out how to fix incompetent parents and how to eradicate a localized subculture that is perpetuated among a small number of young men who glorify and normalize gun violence as a way to prove their status among peers and to settle petty feuds.

One policy isn’t going to do it. DC launched a program to identify people at high-risk of committing or being targeted by gun violence using evidence-backed and data-backed approaches. A majority of gun violence is committed by a small social network of men who generally know each other. This program found most high-risk men (eg, had a history of carrying guns, committing violent crime, or living with men who do so) didn’t want to be identified or offered job training assistance, mental health services or diversionary support. How does a government fix that? I don’t know.

I’m satirizing fake progressives like Brianne Nadeau and Janeese Lewis George who oppose criminal justice system and claim that all violent criminals are really just victims.

If this guy doesn't deserve life in prison than I don't know what crime does. He murdered the victim in cold blood, broad daylight, right in front of his young children.

This deal is an absolute embarrassment.

Thanks for that article, I don't know how it slipped by me, it might have been right before I bought my subscription.

I don't think the evidence is there to say that most people in the list unequivocally do not want help and never will. A lot of them haven't even been contacted there are kinks they clearly need to work out in the program, least of which is simple PR.

Though any more, I view the whole issue as partly a failure of the government and society to provide a convincing argument to get off the streets and behave. Suicide rates and depression has spiked even among affluent teens (and is highest among white men), I have yet to find someone who really enjoys their job and would do it even if they could retire. More middle aged people see no point in having children because the world is going to shit, and the old people I know are bitter and grumpy. Not much of an incentive to work hard and not just do whatever the hell you want.

They have him on video doing it. This is simply a travesty of justice.

Who do we reach out to in order to express our dissatisfaction with this verdict and sentence?

This violent predator was already on probation for gun violations. He was given a plea deal for charges that were not warranted. With current incarceration practices, this person will be back on the streets in 5-7 years. Who among us wants this? Why was this done? This was capital murder in broad daylight with witnesses and video while victim held his babies.

SHAME ON YOU, DC US ATTORNEY'S OFFICE AND SHAME ON YOU, PRAVA PACHARLA! You failed us.

They don’t believe that. At least you think you’re clever though.

That’s part of the problem. There’s no one accountable. People direct their anger at MPD, the Mayor, and the Council, and there is for sure some blame to go around. They also direct their office at the DC Attorney General, and while there’s some blame there for some things, mostly misdemeanors and youths, they’re not to blame for this. Our felonies are prosecuted by the US Attorney’s Office for DC. The US Attorney is a presidential appointee. The AUSAs (prosecutors, in this case) are federal employees. They try the cases in our local court, except the judges are presidential appointees there too. So what do we do when federal officials who don’t have to answer to the local populace refuse to charge people who allegedly commit violent felonies or when they plea out what by all accounts appears to have been a premeditated murder carried out in front of the victim’s kids and recommend the perpetrator get so little jail time that, even if he were to serve his entire sentence, he’d still be out before the kids graduate from high school? Nothing. We rage into the wind. We don’t even have a voting rep in Congress who might pursue these things on our behalf.

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You're very right about this. In fact, there is no reasonable way to interact with the prosecutor's office.

Rage into the wind is right. So fucking sad.

New form of clickbait? Write a really obtuse headline so people have to click through to understand what was actually meant.

I thought it was a father out for a stroll with his kids and then he decided to shoot someone.

makes sense, thanks

Why is it the failure of the government to convince young men that not shooting and killing people is bad? 99% of citizens never shoot anybody. Why not their parents? Families? Peers? Communities?

Sure. But unlike all other cities it's federally staffed. The differences seem like semantics.

*and society. The government in particular though should be interested in trying to understand why some of its citizens don't view it as legitimate or worth listening to.

“Society” as an abstract undefinable force a deflection from the immediate contributors to these young men’s behavior: their parents, families, peers, friends, social groups, and the subculture they choose to inhabit.

What part of “the government” is responsible for changing the way parents parent and adjusting individuals’ agency and decision making that normalizes gun violence?

My understanding is that prosecutors want convictions, not trials, and will basically always take a guilty plea.

Curious if prosecutors could have brought more charges under the revised criminal code because he would be not only committing murder but endangering the two children? Also for having a firearm with his previous convictions? Anybody know?

There is another element here: The amount of guns readily available make this easy. That is a policy choice and can be addressed by elected officials, even without repealing a right to own a personal firearm. Regulating manufacturers, taxing weapons, anything to reduce the volume can help. Ease of access to guns make it easy for misguided young boys and men to kill and get killed.

This is the argument for the youth act extending to 25. Maybe older folks now with the code reform. I think people like to confuse impulsivity with a lack of moral reasoning capacity

On paper it might. In practice though, USAO and AG will have broad discretion in charges they can bring. The code reform is more instructional for judges

13 year sentence? Fuck him and his rehabilitation. This town sucks! I hate the way local politicians always try to cater to the desires of the criminal element. He deserves life in prison w/o the possibility of parole.

What’s their name and place of business? People really should be calling nonstop to complain

Was there a motive? Why did he do this? I’m so confused