A night out in Logan Circle ended in tragedy and, nearly three years later, a long prison term. Dearay Wilson, 30, has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for the June 29, 2021, shooting that killed 53-year-old Jeremy Black as he walked from a restaurant with his wife and friends.
Wilson pleaded guilty in February to second-degree murder while armed. Superior Court Judge Neal E. Kravitz ordered that the 18-year sentence be followed by five years of supervised release. Wilson must also register as a gun offender and will serve his time in federal custody.
Prosecutors' Statement
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, Wilson entered his guilty plea on Feb. 13 and was sentenced on April 10. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said, "This sentencing sends a clear and necessary message: violent crime will not go unanswered," the release noted.
Prosecutors said Wilson and three others sprayed more than 45 rounds into a busy public street during the incident, turning a summer evening into a chaotic scene of gunfire.
How Prosecutors Say It Unfolded
Court filings and the Metropolitan Police Department say Wilson and three others drove to Johnson Avenue NW and opened fire on a group gathered outside an apartment building in the 1400 block of R Street NW.
Authorities say Black, an innocent bystander who happened to be walking in the area with his wife and friends after dinner, was struck once in the left side of his torso. He died at the scene, while the shooters fled in a stolen vehicle.
The Washington Post reported that Black worked for the Peace Corps Office of Inspector General and was raising two sons. His killing became part of a highly scrutinized wave of shootings in 2021 that pushed gun violence deeper into the city’s collective consciousness.
Sentence And Next Steps
The 18-year prison term, followed by five years of supervised release, was imposed by Judge Kravitz, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. In addition to registering as a gun offender, Wilson will serve his sentence in federal custody.
The office credited Metropolitan Police Department investigators and identified Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lindsey Merikas, Kathleen Gibbons and Sarah Santiago as the prosecutors on the case, with the indictment handled by former AUSA Sitara Witanachchi.
Local Coverage And Prior Reporting
Local outlets including Fox 5 DC and WTOP reported on the sentence, drawing heavily from the federal summary of the case.
Hoodline previously covered Wilson’s guilty plea in February; see our earlier coverage of Wilson's guilty plea for additional background on how the case unfolded.
Black’s death appears on the Metropolitan Police Department’s list of major homicide cases from 2021, and family members say the sentence brings some measure of accountability. Even with this chapter now closed in court, the case underscores lingering questions about how to curb the kind of gun violence that turned a simple walk home in Logan Circle into a fatal crossfire.
