“While nothing we do in the courtroom can erase the suffering of this family, I’m proud that we were able to gain some acceptable measure of justice,” said Loudoun County Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Plowman, after Circuit Court Judge James H. Chamblin sentenced Terence Dade to serve life in prison for the April 2008 slaying of Jajuan “Murphy” Johnson.
“Mr. Dade’s planning and ambush style tactics in this killing certainly justified this sentence,” said Plowman.
The sentencing hearing lasted several hours, and included statements from the victim’s family.
Loudoun County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to the village of St. Louis, near Middleburg, late in the evening in response to an anonymous 911 call about a man injured in the woods near a wooded path. Sheriff’s Deputies located the body of Johnson on a path between Snake Hill Road and Hamlin School Road, about 300 yards from Johnson’s home.
Investigators were led to Dade, who later admitted during a video taped interview, to killing Johnson who was beaten and shot hours earlier.
Prosecutors Alejandra Hammack and Amanda Todd presented emotional testimony during the sentencing, hearing from Johnson’s mother, sister and brother who described in great detail the magnitude of their family’s loss.
The courtroom was silenced as Chamblin pronounced sentence, describing the killing as one with particularly aggravating facts.
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