La Plata, MD – Deionte William Johnson, 21 of Indian Head, was sentenced to 15 years in prison by Charles County Circuit Court Judge Helen I. Harrington Monday, March 2 for his role in a violent armed robbery that occurred in June 2013.
Charles County Assistant State’s Attorney John Stackhouse detailed how in a robbery at an apartment complex, Johnson stood at the door while an accomplice held a gun to the head of a victim and demanded his wallet. Stackhouse said the defendant did have a gun during the robbery.
In a second case, Johnson and an accomplice went to a hotel room where five people were “drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana”
The defendant’s accomplice pulled out a handgun and demanded the victims’ money and credit cards.
“These were very violent, very dangerous acts,” Stackhouse said. “It terrified the victims. These are extremely dangerous cases,” he stated. “These re two separate cases. The co-defendant is serving time. This defendant was the lynchpin in both of these incidents,” he added.
Anthony Mayo, Johnson’s attorney, told the court his client was 19 years old at the time the acts occurred.
“I am asking the court to sentence my client to the bottom of the guidelines,” Mayo said.
Harrington sentenced Johnson to 20 years for robbery with a deadly weapon, and three additional years on the wear, carry and transport handgun upon their person charge, and in the other case, also for armed robbery, she sentenced the defendant to another 20 years.
“I’m going to suspend all of that except for 15 years,” she said. “You most likely will have to serve half of the sentence,” Harrington told Johnson.
“You were there,” she told the defendant. ”You are just as guilty. I can only begin to imagine what it was like, having a gun held to your head and start counting down.”
Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com