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District resident Maurice Devonte Beckham, 22, was sentenced to 37 months in prison for illegally possessing a loaded weapon in Northeast DC after pleading guilty late last year, according to federal prosecutors.
According to his plea, shortly after 2 a.m. on Jan. 30, 2023, officers on patrol in the 1100 block of Raum Street NE when they spotted Beckham - who they recognized from his previous crimes - getting into the driver's seat of a running Honda.
As officers approached the stolen vehicle, Beckham sped up toward them - nearly striking them - before crashing into an occupied, marked police vehicle and a local resident's parked car. They were then able to wrestle Beckham out of the front seat, though he proceeded to flee on foot until they could detain him.
Once in custody, a search of the Honda led to the recovery of a semi-automatic Micro Draco 7.62x39mm caliber gun with one round in the chamber and 20 rounds in its 30-round capacity magazine.
Beckham was arrested that night and has been in custody since.
Prosecutors made note that Beckham had been prohibited from possessing firearms due to a previous conviction for unauthorized use of a vehicle.
He pleaded guilty in November to one count of "unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition by a person convicted of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year."
At the time of the incident, Beckham was on probation in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia for unauthorized use of a vehicle, failure to appear in court, and other offenses.
As a result of his arrest in the second case, Superior Court judge Heidi Pasichow revoked Beckham’s probation on June 23, 2023, and sentenced him to a 15-month prison term. The 37-month sentence imposed on Monday will run consecutively to the Superior Court sentence, for a total term of 52 months’ in prison.
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