One of the five men convicted of killing 10-year-old Makiyah Wilson, who was gunned down in 2018 after returning from an ice cream truck, has been ordered to spend the next 60 years behind bars — effectively a life sentence.
Isaiah Murchison, 24, was convicted of first-degree murder and several other felonies in June following a sprawling three-month gang conspiracy trial in D.C. Superior Court earlier this year.
Marquell Cobbs, 21, who was convicted of conspiracy but acquitted of murder and other charges, was sentenced to six years in prison during a sentencing hearing Friday.
Four other men convicted in Wilson’s killing will be sentenced later this month.
Wilson was fatally struck by gunfire on July 16, 2018, when four masked gunmen jumped out of a stolen car in front of an apartment courtyard in Northeast D.C.’s Clay Terrace neighborhood and began spraying the courtyard with bullets.
During the trial, prosecutors said the gunmen fired 50 shots in a matter of 20 seconds. Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Bach said one of the bullets “eviscerated” the girl’s heart. Four other people — including Wilson’s older sister Nyjhay Lewis — were seriously wounded in the shooting.
The sentences Friday were handed down by D.C. Superior Court Robert Okun.
Grandmother’s victim impact statement: ‘Can you stop this pain?’
In victim impact statements for the court, Wilson’s mother, Donnetta Wilson, remembered her daughter as a young girl who could brighten up anyone’s day, and she has tried to keep her daughter’s memory alive in the years since her killing.
“She was an angel on Earth before in heaven,” she said.
Other family members confronted the two men convicted in Wilson’s killing in court.
“You thought you were in a movie. You thought you were playing a video game? … This was real life,” Joanne Harrison, a cousin, said in her statement.
She then recounted the last words of the dying girl. “She said, ‘Mom, don’t cry, Mom. I’m OK. It’s just a little pain.’ Then she died in her mother’s arms! She died trying to console her mother.”
Pandora Wilson, Makiyah’s grandmother, said, “I hope that you all learn the value of life because you all took her life and you didn’t care. You ripped a hole in my family. I don’t know who told you that life isn’t precious but it is. It is.”
She added, “I thought that I would get up here and I would want to scratch your eyes out, you know, and just scream and yell at you.” But that wouldn’t bring Makiyah back, she said. “Can you bring her back? Can you stop this pain? Can you bring her back?”
Overall, Murchison, who prosecutors said was one of the men who jumped out of the stolen car and opened fire, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for Wilson’s killing and 7.5 years for each of the four other victims, who were wounded. Those sentences will run consecutively.
In addition, Murchison was sentenced on several other counts — including conspiracy, firearm and gang charges — but those sentences will run concurrently.
Prosecutors said the shooting was the result of a running “beef” between rival neighborhood gangs and that the shooters — members of the “Wellington Park” crew — stockpiled weapons and planned attacks using social media accounts.
“What these defendants and their fellow crew members did to the Clay Terrace community on July 16 of 2018 is unforgivable,” Bach said at Friday’s sentencing. She added, “No child will feel safe going to the ice cream truck on a hot summer night. And when people sit outside talking to friends and neighbors trying to avoid the summer heat, they’re constantly looking over their shoulders, wondering if a car is about to pull up and open fire.”
Attorney Elizabeth Weller said Murchison has “repeatedly expressed sadness about this whole situation,” and intends to appeal his conviction.
