D.C. man sentenced to 25 years for 2020 H Street arson spree that killed a sleeping man

By Rosa Montclair

WASHINGTON — A D.C. man who set fire to a 62-year-old man sleeping on an H Street Northeast sidewalk in May 2020, killing him, was sentenced Friday to 25 years in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia announced.

D’Aundrey Scott, 32, was sentenced by D.C. Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman, who also ordered five years of supervised release. Scott pleaded guilty on Aug. 14 to one count of second-degree murder and one count each of assault with a dangerous weapon, arson and felony destruction of property.

“D’Aundrey Scott deliberately set two men on fire in the middle of the night, killing Darryl Finney in an act of horrific violence,” U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro said in the announcement. “His actions were cruel, calculated, and utterly unconscionable. Now, he will spend the next 25 years behind prison walls, answering for his crimes.”

Pirro and Interim Chief Jeffery Carroll of the Metropolitan Police Department commended the MPD investigators who worked the case and thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Ganjei, who prosecuted it, according to the release.

What the court record says

According to court documents summarized by prosecutors, at about 12:23 a.m. on May 13, 2020, Scott approached a man lying on the sidewalk in the 1300 block of H Street NE, lit a small flammable object and threw it onto him. The man kicked it away and was not hurt.

About 40 minutes later, at roughly 1:04 a.m., Scott approached Finney, who was sleeping on the sidewalk in the 900 block of H Street NE. He lit a small flammable object, tossed it onto Finney and then splashed an ignitable liquid on him, setting Finney and his belongings on fire, according to the release. Finney, engulfed in flames, got up and walked toward H Street, where MPD officers and D.C. Fire and EMS responded. He suffered second- and third-degree burns and died at a hospital on May 15, 2020.

Scott also set fires on the porches of two homes on Morse Street NE during the spree, FOX 5 DC reported, citing court documents. He was arrested on May 19, 2020, and has been in custody since.

A six-year case

Scott was originally charged with first-degree murder, assault with intent to kill and two counts of arson, DC Witness reported after the August plea hearing. Under the plea agreement, prosecutors dismissed the other charges and the parties agreed to a sentencing range of 15 to 34 years. Friday’s 25-year term falls near the middle of that range.

At the plea hearing, Edelman found a factual basis for the charges and said Scott was accepting guilt knowingly and voluntarily, even though he had earlier sought evaluations for a possible insanity defense, DC Witness reported. Scott was represented by attorney Jesse Winograd. FOX 5 said it had contacted Scott’s attorney for comment.

The case number in Superior Court is 2020 CF1 004775.

The Inquisitor contacted the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Metropolitan Police Department, D.C. Fire and EMS, the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice and the National Coalition for the Homeless on Saturday. This story will be updated with any responses.

Photo: The H. Carl Moultrie Courthouse, home of D.C. Superior Court. APK / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.