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After a four-week trial, a jury found Marcel Vines, 28, aka “Baby Boy,” and Malique Lewis, 27, aka “Freak,” guilty of multiple charges, including kidnapping resulting in death, first-degree murder while armed, and weapons offenses, according to the US Attorney's Office.
Vines and Lewis, members of the notorious Clay Terrace crew, were convicted of luring and executing 23-year-old Armani Nico Coles and 23-year-old Kerrice Lewis (no relation) in December 2017—despite the fact that neither victim was involved in the slaying they were trying to avenge.
Prosecutors said that earlier that day, a friend of Coles and Lewis had fatally shot one of their associates, Ronzay Green. Instead of going after the actual shooter, Vines and Lewis set their sights on Coles and Lewis, believing they could lead them to their target, they said.
Around 2:45 p.m., the pair abducted Kerrice Lewis from an AutoZone parking lot on Longfellow Street NW, forcing her into the backseat of her own blue Lexus at gunpoint.
Then, using Lewis’ phone, they tricked Coles into meeting them near First and Kennedy Streets Northwest, where they kidnapped him, as well.
The two were stuffed into Lewis' Lexus—Coles in the backseat, Lewis locked in the trunk—as the gang members drove toward their Clay Terrace neighborhood.
While on I-295 in Maryland, Coles made a desperate attempt to escape around 6:20 p.m., but he didn’t make it far.
Prosecutors said Vines and Lewis shot him twice—once in the abdomen and once in the back—before shoving his body out of the car, dragging him across the highway, and leaving him to die.
An hour later, they drove to an alley behind Adrian Street Southeast, where they unlocked the trunk and shot Kerrice Lewis at least 13 times before setting both her body and the car on fire.
Investigators later found fingerprints belonging to Vines on an item pushed out of Lewis’ car alongside Coles’ body. Surveillance video also showed Lewis at a McDonald’s drive-through the night after the murders—driving Coles’ missing car.
Even more damning, Lewis sent news articles about the murders via text message, bragging about what they had done and adding, "We ain't done."
Both men were arrested on unrelated charges in January 2018 and later charged in DC Superior Court. The case was moved to federal court in 2019, and both have been in custody since their arrest.
With Friday’s sentencing, they will never walk free again.
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