Former parks and recreation employee Jason Lewis, who worked with troubled teens in the Washington, DC, area, was found guilty of manslaughter in the 2023 shooting death of 13-year-old Karon Desean Blake.
According to the Washington Post, Blake’s death sparked outrage in the District of Columbia, with many drawing comparisons to the 2012 killing of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman. The speculation arose, in part, because authorities released little information about Lewis, including his name or race, leading many to assume the shooter was either a white man or a police officer—neither of which was true.
The 42-year-old Lewis, who is Black, appeared to take the law into his own hands. He brought his handgun with him when he confronted Blake and two others who were allegedly attempting to steal vehicles on his street.
In court, Lewis described the shooting of Blake as devastating. “It was devastating,” Lewis said. Lewis formerly helped run programs for the city’s parks and recreation department aimed at keeping youths in D.C. out of trouble. “I spent close to 20 years of my career working with young people, making sure they were safe and that they had opportunities.”
Lewis said that he thought he heard a gunshot shortly before he shot Blake, but prosecutors pointed out that his Ring security
camera was able to pick up Lewis letting out a heavy sigh, but never picked up any gunshot before Lewis fired his weapon. In addition, the prosecution also argued that Lewis never said he heard gunfire until last week, over a year after the shooting of Blake.In addition to the manslaughter charge, Lewis was found guilty of three counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence and two charges of assault with a deadly weapon. Although Brian McDaniel, a lawyer for the Blake family, said in a statement that the family was disappointed that Lewis wasn’t convicted of the murder of Karon, they still held out hope.
“The family is disappointed that Mr. Lewis was not found guilty of the more serious charges but they respect the time and attention of the jury and appreciate their participation in the process. They miss Karon dearly and hope that a sentence will reflect the loss that they experience every day,” McDaniel said.
According to the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, Superior Judge Anthony Epstein scheduled Lewis’s sentencing for Oct. 25. For the manslaughter charge, Lewis faces a maximum sentence of 45 years. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, since Lewis was found guilty of assault with a deadly weapon, the jury rejected his self-defense claim.
According to WUSA 9, although the trial has now concluded, it has left a community and a family to pick up the pieces in the aftermath. As the prosecution reminded the jury, Blake’s mistakes did not give Lewis the license to take his life, regardless of what he thought he heard or what Blake was doing that night. “Karon should not have been breaking into cars that night, but he didn’t deserve to die in someone’s garden either.”