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March 4, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Hagerstown Resident Sentenced to 5+ Years
For Retaliating Against a Witness With Intent to Kill

CLARKSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA — A 21 year old Hagerstown, Maryland, resident was sentenced on February 25, 2009, in United States District Court in Martinsburg by Chief Judge John Preston Bailey.

United States Attorney Sharon L. Potter announced that TRAVIS JACKSON LATTA was sentenced to 63 months imprisonment to be followed by four years supervised release and was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $4,166.00. LATTA entered a plea of guilty on October 14, 2008, to one count of an Indictment charging him with attempting to kill a witness in retaliation for the witness’ testimony at a federal trial. On April 30, 2008, an individual who had testified in the August 2007 drug trial of United States v. Cecil Ray, Jr., was followed home after work by LATTA and a co-defendant. Shortly after reaching the Martin’s Landing apartment complex, LATTA fired shots from the vehicle the co-defendant was driving using a 9mm HiPoint pistol. The victim was not injured but bullets lodged within the passenger seats of the van and in the tire.

LATTA is in federal custody.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Erin K. Reisenweber and Thomas O. Mucklow. The case was investigated by the Martinsburg Police Department, the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Department, and the West Virginia State Police.