Evergreen Reporter

WASHINGTON – Jamal Matthews, 34, Darnell Savoy, 25, and Stefon Freshley, 28, of Washington, D.C., were sentenced yesterday for their role in the December 2018 shooting of a father and his minor son in the Clay Terrace neighborhood of Northeast Washington, D.C., announced U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department, and FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge David Geist of the Washington Field Office Criminal and Cyber Division.

On August 30, 2024, Matthews was sentenced to a period of 21 years in prison; Savoy received a sentence of nine years in prison; and Freshley was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison. Matthews was also sentenced to an additional five years in prison for his efforts to obstruct justice in the shooting case, for a total prison sentence of 26 years. Savoy’s nine-year sentence will be served consecutively to the five-year sentence he received in his federal possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense case.

All three defendants pleaded guilty on March 29, 2024, before Superior Court Judge Michael O’Keefe. Savoy was sentenced on August 2, 2024, in U.S. District Court to five years in prison for federal charges for drug possession and firearms offenses related to an October 2022 stabbing investigation.

According to the government’s evidence, on December 28, 2018, the victims were in their SUV standing along the curb in the 200 block of 54th Street Northeast waiting for a friend to arrive so they could leave to attend a WWE wrestling event. As the victims waited, Matthews saw the SUV and mistook it for the same vehicle that shot at him and his cousin three days earlier. Matthews emerged from the Christmas Day shooting physically unharmed but his cousin was killed. Matthews called another individual who then called Freshley. Moments later, Freshley and Savoy, who were a few blocks away, entered Savoy’s Nissan Altima and drove to Matthews who entered the Nissan with an assault rifle. All three defendants approached the victims' vehicle while riding in Savoy’s car. As they drove towards and past the victims’ vehicle, Matthews fired approximately 30 shots at the SUV. The minor victim was shot nine times including in the head, abdomen, chest, and back. The adult victim sustained gunshot wounds to his leg and hand.

In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Graves commended those who investigated from the Metropolitan Police Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. Finally they commended Assistant United States Attorneys Kimberley Nielsen and Sharon Donovan who investigated and prosecuted the case.