Unfortunately it happens often. Read up on the Youth Rehabilitation Act, which allows judges to disregard sentencing guidelines, can expunge the records from public record, and now can be applied for offenders up to age 25 because the DC Council raised the applicable age range.

This 23yo, who was on probation for armed offenses, had an illegal firearm that was misplaced, ended up paralyzing a 4 year-old girl and he got sentenced to 18 months + probation after leaving her to die while he went to hide the gun instead of helping her.

The YRA and other similar criminal reform laws are often constructed with good intentions but all too often sentencing leniency in the District is granted to repeat offenders, violent crimes, or crimes involving a firearm. Excluding gun offenders or violent crimes from the YRA or asking for transparent public records isn't a crazy ask from our community.

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