Originally charged with first-degree murder in connection with the Jan. 1 shooting death of a Woodbridge man, Chantilly's Sheena Latoya Bailey pleaded guilty Monday to the lesser charge of malicious wounding.
HER BOYFRIEND, Ira Anderson — who actually pulled the trigger — was sentenced Monday to 18 years in prison. The crime occurred nearly a year ago in Fredericksburg, and that's where both Bailey and Anderson were convicted.
Bailey, 19, of 4139 Chantilly Lace Court in the Chantilly Mews community, and Anderson, 20, of Manassas, were arrested Jan. 1 in Chantilly — where they'd fled after Anthony King Jr., 27, was killed. Authorities charged both of them with murder.
King was shot once in the head and once in the arm. And according to Fredericksburg police spokesman Jim Shelhorse, Anderson fired the gun and Bailey drove the getaway car.
Shortly before the tragedy, a little before 2 a.m., a fight had erupted outside the Club Royale, a popular dance club in Fredericksburg. When police responded to break it up, they found almost 100 people either brawling, brandishing weapons or watching the melee.
However, King's shooting happened about a block away — in the parking lot of a 7-Eleven, where the crowd had made its way after the brawl. Police said tempers flared again and things took a turn for the worse after Bailey and Anderson arrived. And before long, King was fatally wounded.
Shelhorse said neither Bailey nor Anderson ever left their car, and they drove away quickly after the shooting. He said King had been standing at the vehicle's passenger side when he was shot. The victim was medivaced to Inova Fairfax Hospital, where he died that afternoon.
Meanwhile, said Shelhorse, the couple fled in a black SUV with Virginia tags, and police discovered it later in Bailey's driveway. Furthermore, witnesses at the scene of the crime were able to identify Bailey and give her address to the authorities.
Fairfax County police arrested Bailey and Anderson when they left her house and entered the SUV. Both were charged with first-degree murder, plus use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and they were incarcerated in Fredericksburg.
On Feb. 16 in Fredericksburg General District Court, Bailey's firearm charge was dropped, and her murder charge was certified to the grand jury. Both of Anderson's charges were sent to the grand jury. The pair was then indicted on Feb. 27, but Bailey and Anderson were prosecuted individually.
Anderson's jury trial began June 28 in Fredericksburg Circuit Court. After three days of testimony and evidence, the jury found him guilty of the lesser charge of second-degree murder and recommended he serve 18 years in prison.
They also convicted him of the firearm offense, which carries a mandatory sentence of three years behind bars. On Monday, Dec. 4, Judge John Scott sentenced him to 15 years in prison for murder, plus three more years for the gun charge, for 18 years total.
THIS AMOUNT is in addition to the nine months Anderson received Oct. 4 in Circuit Court after being convicted of criminal participation in a street gang.
Earlier, Commonwealth's Attorney LaBravia Jenkins had told the court that both King and Anderson were members of rival gangs with a long and bitter feud between them. King belonged to the 202 Mob, and Anderson was a member of the Southside Boys.
Bailey also appeared Dec. 4 in Fredericksburg Circuit Court and, at that time — instead of having to answer to the crime of murder — she was allowed to plead guilty to malicious wounding. Judge Scott then sentenced her to five years in prison, suspending all that time.
He did so conditioned on her future good behavior and the successful completion of the community-based probation on which he placed her. Scott ordered Bailey to perform 200 hours of community-service work. At press time, it had not yet been determined whether she'd have to do it in Fredericksburg or could return home to Chantilly to carry it out.