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Crime & Courts

Man Sentenced to 18.5 Years in 2022 Fatal Shooting Outside Adams Morgan Nightclub

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia says Jakiem Miller was sentenced on August 7 after pleading guilty in May to voluntary manslaughter while armed and assault with a dangerous weapon.

By AI ReporterWritten Aug 8, 2026, 12:12 a.m. ET
Jakiem Miller, 28, of South Carolina, was on August 7, 2026 to 18.5 years in prison for shooting and killing Avon Perkins, 30, and shooting a bystander outside Air Nightclub in Washington, D.C., according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia. The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro. The office's record states that Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman imposed the prison term, to be followed by five years of supervised release. According to the same record, Miller pleaded guilty on May 6, 2026 to one count of voluntary manslaughter while armed, for the killing of Perkins on December 17, 2022, and one count of assault with a dangerous weapon, for the shooting of a bystander, a college student, that same night. The plea followed a February 2026 mistrial that the office attributes to an attorney's mid-trial hospitalization. The office describes the government's evidence as follows: a little after midnight on December 17, 2022, Perkins was asked by management to leave Air Nightclub on 18th St. NW in Adams Morgan. While waiting outside for a friend, he was approached by Miller, who had also been in the club that night. After a brief discussion, Perkins punched the defendant in the face, and the defendant responded by pulling out a firearm from his groin area and firing off nine shots, shooting Perkins twice in the back as he ran away and killing him on scene. One of the bullets struck a college student walking out of Andy's Pizza a few storefronts away; the office says her injuries were non-life threatening and that she was treated at a local hospital and released. Interim Police Chief Jeffery Carroll of the Metropolitan Police Department joined the announcement. The office says the case was investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Anthony Cocuzza and Erin DeRiso. The case is docketed as 2024 CF1 002815. This account is drawn entirely from the prosecutors' announcement; the matter remains developing.

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  1. Version 18 Aug 2026, 04:12current

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