Antonio Gaither, 17, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced on April 24 in the Superior Court for the District of Columbia for a series of robberies and carjackings that occurred in September 2024, according to an announcement by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.
The sentencing follows a guilty plea entered by Gaither on August 29, 2025, to one count each of carjacking and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, as well as two counts of robbery. The case drew attention because prosecutors requested twelve years of incarceration followed by three years supervised release—the maximum under sentencing guidelines—while the court imposed fully suspended sentences: forty-eight months for carjacking and firearms offenses and twenty-four months for each robbery count. Instead, Gaither will serve eighteen months supervised probation under the Youth Rehabilitation Act.
The court's decision allows for a sentence below mandatory minimums—seven years for carjacking and five years for firearm possession—over government objections. On March 17, co-defendant Derrick West also received a suspended sentence despite similar objections from prosecutors.
According to facts presented in court, on September 19, 2024, Gaither and accomplices confronted their first victim at night while she parked her vehicle; one suspect pointed a gun at her before taking her car. Hours later on September 20 in another incident, they approached another victim sitting in his unlocked vehicle; after ordering him out at gunpoint and assaulting him physically, they stole his wallet along with the vehicle. A third incident took place on September 30 when Gaither and West forcibly took both cell phone and keys from another victim before punching him repeatedly.
U.S. Attorney Pirro was joined by Interim Chief Jeffery Carroll of the Metropolitan Police Department in announcing the outcome. Both officials commended investigators from the Metropolitan Police Department as well as Assistant United States Attorneys Michael Roberts and Ben Helfand who prosecuted the case.
