Prosecutors in Prince George’s County ripped into a judge who gave a convicted killer a 10-year sentence after being charged for first-degree murder.
On top of that, the defendant in the case is still facing trial on a whole slew of new violent crime charges from a separate incident, including attempted murder and rape.
On Friday, 21-year-old Anderson Blanco-Diaz of Greenbelt, Maryland, was given the life sentence required after being found guilty of first-degree murder. But then, Judge Darren Johnson told the court he was suspending all but 10 of those years — well below the sentencing guidelines that say first-degree murder deserves life in prison.
“To say that I was disappointed would be an understatement,” said State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy. “Honestly, I was disgusted. This family deserved justice. My office worked hard to achieve justice, and we got it from the jury, and it feels like it was taken away, unfortunately, by the decision of the judge.”
Blanco-Diaz was found guilty of killing 27-year-old Antoine Dorsey, who also lived in Greenbelt. Dorsey’s body was found on Beaver Dam Road in Beltsville, near federal property, on July 5, 2022.
When Blanco-Diaz was arrested, witnesses had told detectives that the two would smoke marijuana together and that both carried guns.
During the sentencing phase, Judge Johnson told the court, “Everyone will be at a loss. However the court is tasked with being just with what it sees and what it determines … the court can consider evidence that was not admissible at trial.”
Braveboy said “there was no evidence,” and added that “any information in the interest of justice should have been presented to the state.”
Johnson also gave a brief defense for going below the guidelines, telling the court, “Although, considering everything that the family has said, people are different, people outside of us sometimes that we are not aware. … I believe it is the appropriate sentence.”
In all, his words on the matter were rather brief.
Johnson is one of five candidates for four Circuit Court seats on the ballot this fall in Prince George’s County. WTOP requested a comment from Johnson, but a spokeswoman said: “Judges do not speak about their cases and cannot speak about a case currently on appeal.”
“I thought I misheard it, to be honest with you,” said Assistant State’s Attorney Stephen Williams, who prosecuted the case. “I was quite stunned.”
He also suggested the judge may have been swayed by the number of relatives in the courtroom on behalf of Blanco-Diaz.
“I think he was really looking at the defendant and the defendant’s family a lot,” Williams said. “He had family present, young children, that type of thing. And I think that had weighed on the judge’s decision.”
“That day was supposed to be about justice. It was supposed to be about justice,” Braveboy said. “Justice for a family who had senselessly lost a young man who deserved to be here today.”
Over the summer, Blanco-Diaz was charged with two counts of attempted murder and rape, stemming from what Braveboy said were gang-related incidents inside the county jail. That case is scheduled to go to trial in early 2025.
“So the idea that this is someone who has somehow been reformed, while he has been awaiting justice, is just not the case, and I feel heartbroken for the family,” said Braveboy.
“When we achieve convictions, especially first-degree murder, it’s a no-brainer that the judge is going to impose a serious sentence,” she added. “I am sorry to say that this 10-year sentence does not meet the definition of ‘serious’ when it comes to an offense like this.”
The law allows Blanco-Diaz to request a shorter sentence, but prosecutors are not allowed to appeal sentences, and if a resentencing is considered, a judge can’t impose anything more than the original sentence.
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