A D.C. man was sentenced Friday to 130 years in prison for the murder of two people as part of a “violent gang feud,” prosecutors said.
After a nine week trial, Derek Turner, 31, was sentenced in the killings of DeVin Hall and Andrew McPhatter in separate shootings in 2017. His 130-year sentence includes 40 years for each murder count.
Turner was convicted in December 2022 on charges of first-degree premeditated murder while armed, conspiracy to kill and assault, conspiracy to obstruct justice, assault with intent to kill while armed and other charges.
Along with being charged for Hall and McPhatter’s killings on Jan. 7 and March 1 of 2017, respectively, Turner was also charged with several nonfatal shootings.
According to authorities, Turner was convicted of the attempted murders of three men — including McPhatter — on Feb. 17, 2017.
Ronnika Jennings, 44, and Duan Hill, 33, of D.C., were tried alongside Turner for offenses stemming from a gang feud between two Southeast neighborhoods — Wahler Place and Trenton Park — in 2016 and 2017.
The government’s case revealed that the Wahler Place gang members, including Turner, were involved in a violent crime conspiracy that targeted Trenton Park members.
Authorities said Turner utilized Jennings, a civilian clerk in the D.C. police’s Seventh District, to provide him with confidential police information to help carry out criminal activities.
Jennings was convicted on three counts of accessory after the fact in the Feb. 17, 2017 attempted murder, as an accomplice after the fact in McPhatter’s murder, and was charged with one count of obstruction of justice, a news release said. She was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Hill was convicted on a number of counts of obstruction of justice, and was sentenced to 57 months in prison.
The gang feud produced 16 serious violent crimes, including four homicides in less than a year. At least 12 other serious violent crimes, such as at least three homicides, were part of the investigation.
