A man received a sentence of seven years in prison after he admitted shooting and killing a 24-year-old D.C. man. Another man got a sentence of 18 years in prison after his conviction for a $600, half-ounce cocaine deal. The two men were sentenced in the same federal courthouse in Washington. They stood before the same judge. They were co-defendants in the same trial.
More than three years ago, a federal jury acquitted Antwaun Ball on racketeering and conspiracy charges that he led a violent drug gang in the Congress Park neighborhood in Southeast Washington, convicting him solely of a $600, half-ounce drug deal. U.S. District Judge Richard W. Roberts disagreed, sentencing Ball to more than 18 years in prison.
In letters to a sentencing judge, David Wilson's friends and family describe a "loving, caring young man" who one Christmas surprised a little girl whose mother was strung out on drugs with a new bike and a warm coat. But the judge who oversaw Wilson's trial for the better part of a year said he didn't see a trace of that side of Wilson day after day in federal court in Washington.
