Flashpoint Findings
- High‑stakes mistake: Nineteen‑year‑old Kentrell Flowers—who pointed a .40‑caliber pistol at two deputy U.S. Marshals guarding Justice Sonia Sotomayor—will spend 10 years in federal prison, plus five years of supervised release.
- Rapid‑fire response: Within seconds of the July 5, 2024 confrontation outside the justice’s Northwest D.C. home, one marshal fired four rounds through his window, striking Flowers in the mouth and ending the attempted carjacking.
- Broader backdrop: While D.C. carjackings have dropped 50 percent since 2024, stolen‑car violence remains a flash‑point issue that federal judges say justifies stiff sentences to deter copycats.
By Samuel Lopez – USA Herald
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senior U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon recounted the “sheer recklessness” of Flowers’s predawn ambush before imposing the maximum term negotiated in February’s plea deal: 120 months behind bars. Justice
“Had those deputies hesitated, we might be mourning lives instead of discussing rehabilitation,” Judge Leon told the packed Washington, D.C., courtroom, underscoring why the sentence had to “send a regional—and national—message.”
Flowers, speaking through scarred lips, apologized but offered few details about the still‑unidentified accomplices who fled in a stolen silver minivan. His defense lawyer pleaded for leniency, citing the teen’s lack of prior convictions and lingering injuries from the gunshot. Prosecutors countered that Flowers was fortunate to be alive after brandishing a loaded weapon at federal officers sworn to protect one of the nation’s nine Supreme Court justices.
