WASHINGTON – Mason Binion, 35, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 45 years in prison for a 2008 murder in Northwest Washington, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Robert J. Contee III, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).
Binion was found guilty in February 2020, following a trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, of first-degree murder while armed. He was sentenced by the Honorable Marisa J. Demeo.
According to the government’s evidence, on June 21, 2008, at approximately 12:30 a.m., Binion and three other individuals drove the victim, Michael F. Taylor, 21, from a recreation center in Silver Spring to the 600 Block of Emerson Street NW. Binion and Mr. Taylor had arranged for a large purchase of drugs, and Mr. Taylor had given the drug money to a middleman who then took off with the money. Searching for revenge, Binion and his associates drove into the alley, stopped the car in front of a detached garage behind 610 Farragut Street, and then shot Mr. Taylor in the back of the head, killing him.
Binion was arrested on Jan. 24, 2018, was released pending trial, and has been in custody since the guilty verdict.
In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Graves and Chief Contee commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. They also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Lenerz and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Pearlman; Supervisory Victim/Witness Services Coordinator Katina Adams-Washington; Victim/Witness Services Coordinator La June Thames; Paralegal Specialist Meridith McGarrity; former Victim/Witness Advocate Marcia Rinker; Supervisory Litigation Technology Specialist Leif Hickling, and Investigative Analyst Zachary McMenamin.
Finally, they commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Gilead Light and Michael Spence, who prosecuted the case.