Man Who Fell Asleep on Baltimore-Washington Parkway Sentenced to 4 Years in Prison on Gun and Drug Charges
Greenbelt, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams, Jr. sentenced Demetrius Alvin Boyd, age 35, of Laurel, Maryland and Washington, D.C., today to four years in prison followed by two years of supervised release for being a felon in possession of a firearm and for possession with intent to distribute marijuana. Judge Williams imposed an additional six months in prison for driving under the influence, to run concurrent to Boyd’s sentence on the gun and drug counts.
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Chief Teresa Chambers of the U.S. Park Police; and Acting Special Agent in Charge Marino F. Vidoli of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives - Baltimore Field Division.
According to testimony presented at Boyd’s two day trial, on April 16, 2011, a U.S. Park Police officer was on patrol on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway and noticed cars slowing down and swerving out of the right lane of traffic. The officer saw a Toyota in the right lane of traffic with Boyd asleep in the driver’s seat. The officer knocked repeatedly on the driver’s side window, finally waking Boyd. After multiple requests by the officer, Boyd moved the vehicle to the shoulder of the road. According to trial testimony, Boyd appeared intoxicated, failed a preliminary breath test and was placed under arrest. A later breath test confirmed that Boyd was over the legal limit and was in fact under the influence of alcohol.
Boyd was subsequently searched and officers recovered: two plastic sandwich bags, containing a total of 17 small ziplock bags containing marijuana; approximately $1,051 in cash; and a loaded .45 caliber semi-automatic handgun, which had been reported stolen.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the U.S. Park Police and ATF for their work in this investigation and thanked Assistant United States Attorney Hollis Weisman and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Nitze, who prosecuted the case.
