According to the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office, “Today in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, MD, the Honorable Karla Smith sentenced defendant, Zyier Brown, 19, of Washington D.C. to 30 years in prison suspend all but 13 years to serve and five years of supervised probation upon release. On September 28th, 2023, Judge Smith sentenced a co-defendant, Victor Noel, 17, of Upper Marlboro to 30 years in prison suspend all but 11 years to serve and five years of supervised probation upon release.
Each co-defendant pleaded guilty earlier this year to two armed carjackings and use of a handgun in commission of a crime of violence. This stems from two incidents: the armed carjacking of an Uber driver along the 15000 block of Shady Grove Rd. in Rockville on October 25th, 2022, and the armed carjacking of a man driving a Toyota Corolla along the 7800 block of Guildberry Court in Gaithersburg on November 14th, 2022. Immediately after the November 14th carjacking, the defendants crashed the Corolla following a high-speed police pursuit on I-270.
Noel was 16 years old at the time of the incidents but was charged and convicted as an adult. Brown was 18 years old at the time of the incidents. He also purchased, built, and brought the ‘ghost guns’ used in the November 14th armed carjacking, and was the driver in the high-speed police pursuit that ended with them flipping and totaling the victim’s vehicle. Judge Smith recommended both defendants be admitted to the Patuxent Youthful Offenders program while incarcerated.
A third co-defendant, Jayla Newman, 19, of Washington D.C., who was present for the second carjacking but did not touch or threaten the victim and was not armed, was sentenced yesterday by the Honorable James Bonifant to 331 days of time served plus three years of supervised probation. Assistant State’s Attorney Kyle O’Grady prosecuted these cases.
“This comes at a time when we have growing concern about the rising number of auto thefts and carjackings committed by young adults and juveniles in our community. We thank Judge Smith for fashioning appropriate sentences in this matter, to help discourage this type of activity,” said State’s Attorney John McCarthy.