LAS CRUCES—Today in federal court in Las Cruces, Stephanie Ann Landon, a 35-year-old resident of Silver City, New Mexico, was sentenced to a 57-month term of imprisonment for her attempted carjacking conviction. Landon will be on supervised release for three years after she completes her prison sentence. The court also ordered Landon to pay $2,270.81 in restitution to the victims of the carjacking.
United States Attorney Kenneth J. Gonzales said Landon and her co-defendant Kevin Maurice Brooks, 48, of Detroit, Michigan, were charged with attempted carjacking based on an event that transpired on September 27, 2009, in Silver City. Landon and Brooks initially were charged in a criminal complaint filed in May 2010, and subsequently were charged in a three-count indictment charging both defendants with attempted carjacking and using a firearm during a crime of violence; and Brooks alone with being a felon in possession of a firearm. Landon has been in federal custody since October 6, 2010 when she entered a guilty to count one of the indictment.
According to the criminal complaint, at approximately 3:00 a.m. on September 27, 2009, when Landon and Brooks were living in a camper trailer next to a mobile home occupied by the victims of their unlawful conduct (a family consisting of a father, mother, and daughter), Brooks and Landon attempted to carjack the victims’ 1998 Ford Taurus. During an argument between Brooks and the victims, Brooks pointed a .40 caliber handgun at the father and ordered him to retrieve the keys to the Ford Taurus. As the father went to get the keys, Brooks fired a shot that missed him by a few feet. According to the complaint, the father retrieved the keys and gave them to Brooks, who went outside and handed them to Landon. Brooks then went back inside the mobile home and told the victims that he was going to kill them. The daughter was present during this exchange and begged Brooks not to kill her parents. Brooks then fired two more shots in the direction of the victims, missing them by less than a foot.
Landon returned to the mobile home after loading the car and told Brooks that it was time to leave. Brooks asked Landon what he should do, and Landon told him: “You do what you think is best.” According to the complaint, Landon looked at father and mother and said: “You know what, just shoot them,” and walked back outside. Brooks again told the victims he was going to kill them and prepared to shoot the father. Before Brooks could pull the trigger, however, Grant County Sheriff’s deputies arrived on the scene in response to a neighbor’s report of “shots fired.” The deputies ordered everyone outside and arrested Brooks and Landon.
Brooks pled guilty to all three counts of the indictment on October 19, 2010, and on April 25, 2011, he was sentenced to a 191-month term of imprisonment to be followed by three years of supervised release. Brooks also was ordered to pay $2,270.81 in restitution to the victims of the attempted carjacking; Brooks and Landon are jointly and severally liable for the restitution. Brooks has been in federal custody since his arrest on June 10, 2011 and continues to serve his prison sentence.
During Brooks’ April 25, 2011 sentencing hearing, the court admonished him not to have contact with the victims, two of whom attended the hearing. Notwithstanding the court’s order, as Brooks was being escorted from the courtroom, Brooks turned to the victims, made a popping sound with his mouth and “flipped them off.” This conduct was witnessed by individuals present in the courtroom. On May 20, 2011, the court held an evidentiary hearing on the United States’ motion for an order to show cause why Brooks should not be held in indirect contempt of court for willfully disobeying the court’s order that he not have contact with the victims. The court found that Brooks had willfully disobeyed the order prohibiting him from contact with the victims and sentenced Brooks to an additional six months’ imprisonment, bringing his total sentence to 197 months’ imprisonment.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Las Cruces, the Grant County Sheriff’s Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the Silver City Police Department. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Mark A. Saltman and Michael D. Nammar.
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