Matthew M. Graves U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia
Donnell Godfrey, a 19-year-old resident of Washington, D.C., has been sentenced to a total of 104 months in prison for two separate offenses. The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin, Jr. and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).
Godfrey received a 72-month sentence for robbing a stranger at gunpoint and an additional consecutive 32-month sentence for assaulting a correctional officer while incarcerated at the D.C. Jail.
The charges stem from incidents that occurred in November 2023 and April 2024. On November 21, 2023, Godfrey and two accomplices approached a man on a residential street as he was parking his car. Armed with firearms, they demanded the victim's property, including his phone and car keys. Despite their demands to unlock his phone and grant them access to his home, the victim refused. The assailants fled with the stolen items but were later apprehended by police officers who tracked the victim's phone to their location.
In another incident on April 24, 2024, while detained at D.C. Jail for the armed robbery case, Godfrey assaulted a correctional officer during an education period by striking him with a broom handle after being instructed not to turn on a television. The attack resulted in significant injuries to the officer, including fractures that required surgeries and left him unable to work for several months.
U.S. Attorney Martin and Chief Smith commended the efforts of those involved in investigating both cases from the Metropolitan Police Department and D.C. Department of Corrections. They also acknowledged Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Toogun, Valerie Tsesarenko, and Ariel Lieberman for their roles in prosecuting these cases.
