State v. Deanthony Lamont Warrick, C-08-CR-23-000298
LA PLATA, MD—Tony Covington, State’s Attorney for Charles County, announced that on Tuesday, August 6, 2024, Charles County Circuit Court Judge William R. Greer, Jr. sentenced Deanthony Lamont Warrick, 35, of Indian Head, to Life Without Parole (LWOP) in prison for the First-Degree Murder of Jasmine Lakesha Hicks and related charges. Warrick was convicted of the charges by a Charles County jury on June 6, 2024.
In commenting on the Court’s sentence, Covington said, “The decision to seek a LWOP sentence – the most serious penalty in the State of Maryland – is mine and not made lightly. Unless I give the defendant advance notice that we are seeking LWOP, the Court cannot impose it. We did give proper notice in this case, and I am gratified that the Court, having heard all the evidence at trial and all the testimony and arguments during sentencing, saw this case the way I did and imposed LWOP. The vicious and callous way he committed this crime, in my mind, says he should never walk free in our community again. He purposefully and permanently erased Jasmine Hicks from this planet – forever. Justice requires he be held accountable. The jury held him accountable with their verdict and the Judge imposed the proper and just sentence we requested.”
On April 12, 2023, in the early morning hours, officers responded to a residence in Bryans Road for the report of an unconscious female in the yard. Upon arrival, officers discovered Ms. Hicks lying in the yard with several stab wounds. Unfortunately, she was pronounced deceased at the scene.
An investigation of the murder revealed that Warrick and Ms. Hicks were outside of Warrick’s residence prior to the stabbing. Warrick and Ms. Hicks began engaging in a verbal altercation about items that Warrick claimed had been stolen from him by another individual. During the altercation, Warrick began stabbing Ms. Hicks about her head, face, neck, shoulders, back, chest, abdomen, and arms. An autopsy revealed 20 distinct wounds on Ms. Hicks.
Audio of the murder was captured on a nearby surveillance camera. As Warrick was repeatedly stabbing Ms. Hicks, he can be heard to say, “Don’t make me kill you.” After the stabbing, Warrick fled the scene leaving Ms. Hicks in the yard. She remained there from midnight until approximately 6:30 a.m. when her body was discovered by a neighborhood resident.
During the investigation, Warrick confessed to the murder.
At sentencing, Assistant State’s Attorney Laura Caspar told the Court, “If I have ever seen a case that deserves life without parole, it is this one. The defendant left her in that yard, all alone, in the dark, to bleed to death. And, as we know from the surveillance audio, her death did not come mercifully quick. She suffered greatly before her death. This was vile, malicious, and vengeful.”
Judge Greer, in sentencing the Defendant, said, “This was a heartless death…cold-blooded and vile.”
Sentence
- First-Degree Murder of Jasmine Lakesha Hicks
- Life Without Parole
- Wear and Carry of a Dangerous Weapon with the Intent and Purpose of Injuring Jasmine Lakesha Hicks
- 3 years
- Possession of a Controlled Dangerous Substance to wit: Phencyclidine
- 1 year
- Possession of a Regulated Firearm, to wit: Taurus 9mm handgun, after being convicted of a crime of violence
- 15 years
- Possession of a Regulated Firearm, Rifle/Shotgun, after being convicted of a crime of violence
- 15 years
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