Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy called it a failure of the justice system. A victim's sister walked out of the courtroom. And a 28-year-old convicted of orchestrating an execution-style murder will be eligible for parole in roughly 15 years.

Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Sharon Burrell on Saturday, Aug. 8, sentenced DeAngelo McRoy to life in prison with all but 30 years suspended for the February 2024 killing of Delondre Sawyer, 35, of Silver Spring. Prosecutors had asked for a minimum of life plus 20 years. The sentencing guidelines in the case called for life plus 30 years, according to FOX 5 DC.

McRoy was not accused of pulling the trigger. But a jury convicted him in October 2025 of first-degree murder, use of a firearm in a felony, armed carjacking and armed robbery for his role in what prosecutors described as a planned carjacking disguised as a drug deal.

Sawyer was shot in the back of the head while driving his mother's Honda Accord on Feb. 7, 2024. His body was stripped naked and left in the woods along Game Preserve Road in Gaithersburg, The Banner reported. Authorities found him the next day.

'The justice system failed him'

Jasmine Hawkins, Sawyer's sister, said the sentence ignored the severity of what was done to her brother.

"The judge minimized the fact that he helped orchestrate the entire robbery and then participated in discarding our brother's lifeless body as if his life meant nothing. ... We trusted the justice system to fully recognize the seriousness of what was done to our brother, and ... we feel that the justice system failed him and failed our family," Hawkins told FOX 5 DC.

Hawkins told The Banner that both her parents died shortly after Sawyer was killed. She left the courtroom when McRoy stood to apologize to the family moments before sentencing.

McCarthy told FOX 5 the outcome frustrated his office, saying the family had hoped for a sentence in line with the guidelines given McRoy's record, age and convictions, and that the court came nowhere near that.

Why the judge departed

Judge Burrell cited several mitigating factors: McRoy was not the gunman, did not know co-defendant Quinnton Brown had a weapon, was a drug addict, was under the influence at the time and had limited cognitive ability.

Defense attorney Sean Mukherjee, the district public defender, argued that sentencing McRoy to life would compound the tragedy, saying both McRoy and Sawyer struggled with addiction and that the fatal decision belonged to Brown alone.

Under Maryland's sentencing guidelines, the range for first-degree murder is "life to life," but judges are not bound by the guidelines and may depart from them.

McRoy, who had a prior attempted robbery conviction in 2016, was credited with more than 900 days already served. If released on parole, he faces five years of supervised probation.

What's next

Co-defendant Quinnton Brown, 39, was convicted in July 2026 of first-degree murder, armed robbery, armed carjacking and other charges. Prosecutors identified him as the gunman. His sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 1 in Montgomery County Circuit Court in Rockville, where he faces a maximum of life plus 135 years.

A third defendant, Alicia Carson-Brown, received a shorter sentence after cooperating with police.