Charles Leon Thompson Jr., 34, of Waldorf was sentenced to 40 years in prison on June 29 following a guilty plea that he made late last year in connection with an armed robbery which killed one woman and injured several others following an altercation at a local sports bar.
Around 1:25 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017, police responded to the Beer 4 U sports bar in the 2100 block of Crain Highway for a reported shooting. Upon their arrival, police discovered several victims suffering from different injuries, two of whom included 24-year-old Emmanuel Perkins and his girlfriend, Miaquita Gray, 26, of Lexington Park.
A preliminary investigation revealed that a few moments prior to the shooting, Perkins had sustained head injuries after being assaulted and robbed by three suspects during an altercation in the bathroom bar. After the assault, police said the three suspects followed Perkins and Gray as they left the bar and stood in the parking lot. One of the suspects then pulled out a gun and began firing at the couple, striking Gray in her upper body and grazing Perkins in the leg while injuring two others.
Gray, who police said was a bystander and not an intended target, died from her gunshot wound shortly after being transported to a nearby hospital.
Video surveillance and witnesses testimony later revealed that co-defendants Anthony Deangelo Wilkins, 33, and 34-year-old Thompson, both Waldorf residents, were the suspects in the armed robbery. A further investigation by detectives identified Wilkins as the shooter and Thompson as an accomplice, although a third suspect who was also allegedly involved in the armed robbery has not been identified, according to police.
Both Wilkins and Thompson were charged with first-degree murder, attempted first and second-degree murder, armed robbery, robbery, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, first-degree assault, several charges of use of a firearm to commit a violent crime and other related charges.
In December 2017, Thompson pleaded guilty to two of the original 26 counts that he was charged with, including armed robbery and the use of a firearm to commit a violent crime. The two charges have a maximum sentence of 20 years, thus resulting in a 40-year prison sentence for Thompson which he received last Friday.
Thompson’s attorney, public defender Michael Beach, initially told the court on Dec. 4 that Thompson was pleading guilty “under the theory that he was an accomplice” to the armed robbery of the victim inside the Waldorf bar.
John Stackhouse, an assistant state’s attorney, summarized the evidence that would have been given if Thompson had agreed to a trial. Stackhouse said Perkins, who was robbed inside the bathroom of Beer 4 U, would have testified to the fact that he was hit over the head with a handgun before being robbed of cash and a credit card.
Perkins would have also testified that after he pointed out the three men who robbed him in the parking lot, Wilkins pointed a gun at him and fired gunshots which ultimately killed Gray, according to Stackhouse.
Furthermore, Stackhouse said that he would have shown the jury a surveillance video from the February 2017 incident. The video showed Wilkins carrying a handgun as he and the other two men went into the bathroom, moments before Perkins had entered. There was also evidence of Perkins’ blood found on the shoes and jacket that Thompson wore the night of the incident, according to Stackhouse.
Beach argued in opposition that in the surveillance video, Thompson is shown coming out of the bathroom first, which Beach said put Thompson “the farthest away” from the bathroom robbery.
When Wilkins fired a gun outside the bar, Beach said it was a separate incident and that there was a “two-minute altercation” before the shots were fired, which is what caused Wilkins to pull out his gun, according to Beach.
“Thompson had no idea [Wilkins] was going to do that,” Beach said in court.
Thompson said he agreed that the state had enough evidence to convict him of the crimes charged and officially pleaded guilty to armed robbery and the use of a firearm to commit a violent crime during an appearance in front of Charles County Circuit Court Judge H. James West. Friends and family members of Gray were also in attendance at the Dec. 4 hearing.
In a prior court hearing held in March 2017, Thompson’s bail was set at $50,000, which Stackhouse said Thompson was unable to make at the time. Stackhouse had then requested to the judge that Thompson be held without bond, which was granted.
Thompson’s sentencing, which West had initially scheduled for Feb. 28 of this year, was postponed twice due to a conflict of interest with one of Thompson’s family members who was present in the courtroom. His final sentencing took place on June 29 in front of Judge William Greer, in order “to be fair to everyone,” West said.
Wilkins, who is now incarcerated in Virginia, was shot and arrested near Emporia, Va., after a shoot-out with Virginia police on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2017, a week after Gray was killed. Thompson turned himself in to detectives that following Monday evening, according to Charles County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Diane Richardson.
“This sentence laid down by the court was fair and reasonable, given the senseless killing of an innocent bystander in this case,” Charles County State’s Attorney Tony Covington (D) said in a public statement regarding Thompson’s June 29th sentencing. “Incapacitating violent robbers and murderers by jailing them is the only truly proven way of reducing violent crime on our streets. This sentence takes a dangerous person off the streets for a significant time period. That is a good thing.”
Gray had worked as an assistant manager at a department store in St. Mary’s Laurel Glen shopping center. She was a 2008 graduate of Great Mills High School and took business courses for two years at the College of Southern Maryland, according to Gray’s mother, Delores Gray.
When she was not working, Delores Gray said her daughter enjoyed “going to the beach and to the park, and going with me shopping. She loved having little campfires [at the beach], and sitting, relaxing and talking.”
Delores Gray, a retired St. Mary’s County correctional officer, said family time was the most important thing to her daughter. Everybody in the family is mad and upset as they are having a hard time dealing with Miaquita Gray’s death.
In addition to her cousins, 26-year-old Gray had two older brothers and a sister. A prayer vigil was held a few days after her death.
“Her infectious smile lit up the world,” Delores Gray said. “She loved life.”
Originally Posted on Maryland Independent:
http://www.somdnews.com/independent/news/local/waldorf-man-receives–year-prison-sentence-in-connection-to/article_7340c44b-4117-56ac-a1c0-78dbd7801a64.html
