The Night of January 24, 2007
On January 24, 2007, Keith Washington, his wife, and six year old daughter were at home having dinner while awaiting the delivery of bed rails they had purchased from Marlo Furniture. The delivery was late and when the Washington's called the furniture store to get a status they were eventually told the delivery was still coming. Subsequently, two men (later learned to be Robert White and Brandon Clark) arrived in a Marlo delivery truck. Mrs. Washington and their daughter remained in the kitchen while Keith answered the door. Keith let them in and proceeded to lead them upstairs to the master bedroom where the bed rails were to be placed.
Keith let them in and proceeded to lead them upstairs to the master bedroom where the bed rails were to be placed. After reaching the master bedroom and noticing that White was not with them but had instead gone into their daughter's bedroom, Keith got an uneasy feeling and told the men to leave. Overhearing Keith tell the men to leave their home, Mrs. Washington told their daughter to stay put, and started to walk into the foyer to determine what was going on.
Reaching the steps, she looked up to the upstairs hallway and witnessed the two men, Brandon Clark, who stood 6'7", 330 pounds, and Robert White, who stood 6'2", 280 pounds, assaulting Keith, who is 5'9", 155 pounds. Within a few seconds as she turned to run for her daughter to get out the house and call for help, she heard shots. Mrs. Washington continued to run back into the kitchen, grabbed their daughter and the phone and ran out of the house dialing 911. The two men assaulting Keith had been shot; Brandon Clark later died, Robert White survived.
The Sentence
In a nearly two-week jury trial in February of 2008, Keith was convicted of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of first- degree assault and two counts of use of a handgun in the commission of a felony. In total, Keith was sentenced to 45 years in prison dating from February 23, 2008. The 45-year sentence Keith received was more than twice what the Maryland Sentencing Guidelines would have imposed on him at 5 to 20 years.