DC man sentenced to 130 years in prison for killing two people during a violent gang feud

WASHINGTON — A D.C. man was sentenced on Friday to 130 years in prison for killing two people as part of an ongoing violent gang feud.

Derek Turner, 31, was convicted in December 2022 after a nine-week trial for murdering DeVin Hall and Andrew McPhatter. 

Turner was charged and convicted of two counts of first-degree, premeditated murder while armed, conspiracy to kill and assault, conspiracy to obstruct justice, three counts of assault with intent to kill while armed, four counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, seven counts of obstruction of justice, and four counts of unlawful possession of a firearm. 

Officials say the sentence includes 40-year terms for each murder count. 

Turner stood trial alongside his co-defendants Ronnika M. Jennings, 44, and Duan M. Hill, 33, both also of Washington, D.C. Police sentenced Jennings to 15 years in prison; Hill was sentenced to 57 months.

In 2016-2017, police claim the three defendants were involved in a gang feud between two neighborhoods in Southeast D.C.

The dispute involved members of the Wahler Place and Trenton Park crews, rival groups located in Southeast, according to court documents. 

In less than a year, investigators say 16 serious violent crimes, including four homicides, occurred directly because of the dispute.

The government’s case showed that Wahler Place members engaged in a violent crime conspiracy targeting members of Trenton Park. 

Turner was charged with the Jan. 7, 2017 murder of Devin Hall and the March 1, 2017 murder of Andrew McPhatter, as well as several non-fatal shootings. 

A jury convicted Turner in both murders, as well as the February 17, 2017 attempted murders of rivals Raheem Osborne, Joseph Tyler, and Andrew McPhatter (before police say he was the victim of the later homicide).

During the series of attacks, officials say Turner got defendant Jennings, a civilian clerk in MPD’s Seventh District, to provide him with confidential police information to assist him and others in their criminal activities.  

Police say Jennings was convicted of three counts of accessory after the fact in the Feb. 17, 2017 attempted murder, as an accessory after the fact in McPhatter’s murder, and on one count of obstruction of justice. Hill was convicted of multiple counts of obstruction of justice in connection with a conspiracy to recruit an associate of Turner to take criminal responsibility for the firearm that Turner used to commit the two charged murders as well as three charged attempted murders.

An MPD Sergeant has been charged with second-degree murder after a man who was found sleeping in a car was shot to death in August 2021.