A D.C. man has been ordered to spend 26 years in prison for strangling his mother in her Northeast Washington home in 2020, the top term under the District’s voluntary sentencing guidelines. A judge also tacked on five years of supervised release to follow the prison time.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, 38-year-old Seth Emmanuel Andrews was convicted on Nov. 26, 2025, of second-degree murder. Judge J. Michael Ryan sentenced him on Feb. 13, 2026, imposing the recommended 312-month prison term for the killing of his mother, 67-year-old Hazel Evans, in her Northeast D.C. residence. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrea Coronado and Marybeth Manfreda prosecuted the case.
How the case unfolded
Evans was found dead on July 16, 2020, and the medical examiner determined she had been killed by asphyxiation. Andrews was arrested the following month after a separate incident and then charged in his mother’s death. Court documents and contemporaneous reporting described erratic behavior and noted a prior psychiatric evaluation. As reported by The Washington Post, the killing took place in the first block of 35th Street SE in the Benning area.
Court proceedings and sentence
The case went to trial in D.C. Superior Court, where a jury returned a guilty verdict late last year. During pretrial proceedings, local court coverage noted additional charges involving assaults on officers and property damage, which were handled separately in the case.
Local TV coverage of the sentencing, available from DC News Now, highlighted the U.S. Attorney’s Office announcement and included on-camera reactions from investigators who worked the case.
What comes next
With sentencing complete, Andrews faces 26 years behind bars, followed by five years of supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors and the Metropolitan Police Department have publicly credited their teams for the investigation and trial work, while the defense may pursue post‑conviction options in the weeks ahead.
