Judge gives carjacker 40 years, says 'strong message needs to be sent'
A Chicago man was sentenced Friday to 40 years in prison for carjacking a woman in Downers Grove during a spree in which other people also were carjacked.
DuPage County Judge Michael Reidy said Daysean Washington-Davis and his co-defendants "terrorized these people."
Reidy noted there has been an increase in carjackings in recent years. "A strong message needs to be sent that carjackings will not be tolerated in DuPage County," he added.
Washington-Davis, 22, pleaded guilty on April 25 to one count of aggravated vehicle hijacking with a firearm in the Dec. 13, 2019, attack on a woman in the driveway of her new home on Hawkins Street. The prosecution dropped charges of another Downers Grove carjacking on Nov. 30, 2019, on Prairie Street, a Dec. 13, 2019, carjacking in Warrenville and a Woodridge armed robbery later that day.
Washington-Davis could have been sentenced to as few as 20 or as many as 45 years. He will have to serve at least 50% of the time before being eligible for parole. He received credit for the nearly three years he spent in jail awaiting trial.
Washington-Davis said he was sorry for the pain he caused the victim. "My conduct was very dangerous and disrespectful. I won't blame anyone but myself for my actions," he said.
Prosecutors read a letter from the victim. "The fear the defendants have instilled in me will never go away," she wrote. "I will never understand how a person could treat another person like this."
Prosecutors said the woman has post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety as a result of the carjacking. She received medical evaluation because she was pregnant.
They also read a letter from the victim in the Nov. 30 carjacking. That woman said she and her daughter, who was with her at the time, "are horrified and terrified."
Authorities said Washington-Davis drove Emanuel Embry, 22, and Martavious Robinson, 20, to the Hawkins Street carjacking, where a Kia was stolen.
A friend of the victim followed the car to Woodridge. While it was stopped at a traffic light, the friend approached the stolen car. Robinson and Embry ran off, police said. While the friend moved the Kia to a gas station parking lot, one of the carjackers drove off in the friend's car, a Dodge Charger, authorities said.
A tracking service on the Charger enabled police to trace the car to several spots in Chicago, then to a hotel in Downers Grove.
Robinson and Embry await trial. Embry's next court date is Oct. 20. He is being held without bond in DuPage County jail. Robinson is due back in court Dec. 28. He is being held on $125,000 bail at the DuPage jail.