According to the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office, “In the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, MD, the Honorable Marybeth Ayres sentenced defendant, Emmanuel Simmonds, 17, of Gaithersburg, to life in prison suspend all but 35 years to serve and five years of supervised probation upon release. Judge Ayres recommended that Simmonds be admitted to the Patuxent Youthful Offenders program while incarcerated. The sentencing hearing was held Friday, July 26, 2024.
Simmonds pleaded guilty on December 28, 2023, to charges of first-degree murder and use of a firearm in commission of a felony, for the shooting death of 18-year-old Tenneson Vaughn Leslie, Jr. of Greenbelt.
On May 18, 2023, at the Wheaton Metro Station, two groups of males who were strangers to each other became involved in an altercation on an escalator. Simmonds produced a firearm and shot Leslie in the back of the head, as Leslie and his associates were running away from Simmonds’ group. Assistant State’s Attorney Peter Larson prosecuted this case.”
