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Silver Spring resident Dakari Thomas has been sentenced to 25 years with all but 12 years suspended after admitting to killing Getro Marius Benamna in December 2021 during a botched marijuana sale.
Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy said that on Dec. 7, 2021, Thomas and Benamna met at Startbucks in the 900 block of Ellsworth Drive in Silver Spring for a shady drug transaction.
Thomas attempted to pass off a different substance as marijuana, the two got into a find, which led to him pulling out a knife and stabbing Benamna.
Both men suffered stab wounds during the fracas and were taken to area hospitals for treatment and evaluation, where Benamna later died from a stab wound to the chest.
"The evidence clearly shows that Thomas was the aggressor in this incident, and that he brought the knife and used it to stab Benamna," according to court documents.
Thomas pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in July.
Investigators noted that at the time of the fatal stabbing, Thomas had recently been arrested and charged with armed robbery, where the weapon used was a knife. He was also recently served with an emergency petition for pulling a knife on his sister.
"Once again, this was a situation where a fight over marijuana led to the loss of a young life in our community," McCarthy said. "The State requested an executed sentence of 25 years, but we respect the Judge’s decision in this matter. Our hearts remain with the family of Getro Benamna."
When he is released, Thomas was also ordered to serve five years of supervised probation, and a judge recommended that Thomas be admitted to the Patuxent Youthful Offenders program while he is behind bars.
The Patuxent Institution opened in 1955 "with the mission to ensure public safety through the psychotherapeutic treatment of individuals who demonstrated persistent antisocial and criminal behavior," officials said.
"The mission has evolved over the years, but the one constant has been Patuxent’s role as a hub for treatment services for the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services."
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