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DC man, 19, receives reduced sentence for carjacking under Youth Rehabilitation Act

West pleaded guilty to the September carjacking, but was sentenced to less than the mandatory minimum of seven years in prison.

WASHINGTON — A 19-year-old man will spend 4.5 years behind bars for a D.C. carjacking that led to a chase before ending in Prince George's County. A judge sentenced Adam West to less than the mandatory minimum sentence of seven years for carjacking, using the Youth Rehabilitation Act (YRA).

West pleaded guilty to the carjacking in December. During a plea hearing, he admitted to carjacking a driver of their Dodge Charger while in Northwest D.C. Metropolitan Police Department officers responded to the scene and pursued West, on the ground and in the air using an MPD helicopter. He drove into Seat Pleasant, where officers there picked up the pursuit, before headed back into D.C.

Once back in the District, he drove over a median and onto a sidewalk in the 300 block of 20th Street Northeast, where the car was disabled. Seat Pleasant officers, with the help of a K-9 named Theo took West into custody a short time later. MPD officers arrested him. 

At sentencing, prosecutors asked for West to serve eight years, and opposed the use of the Youth Rehabilitation Act. 

The YRA provides sentencing alternatives for young adult offenders under the age of 22 who are sentenced for any crime other than murder.

Judge Errol Arthur sentenced West to 4 and a half years in prison, with an additional one and a half years suspended, and two years of probation. 

RELATED: Seat Pleasant K9 Theo recovering from injuries sustained in capture of DC carjacking suspect

RELATED: DC Police arrest 18-year-old for two robberies, carjacking in less than 12 hours

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