Virginia

Arlington 18-Year-Old Who Killed Father Gets 32 Years

An 18-year-old Arlington, Virginia, resident who stabbed his father to death when he was 17 years old has been sentenced to decades in prison. 

Maxwell Adams, 18, was sentenced on Wednesday to 32 years for killing his father, Dennis "Andy" Adams, last year. He was 46. 

"Mr. Adams tragically lost his life in a senseless act of domestic violence by someone he spent his life caring for," Arlington County Deputy Chief Daniel J. Murray said in a statement. 

Maxwell Adams was sentenced to 50 years with 23 years suspended for first-degree murder, plus five years for stabbing in the commission of a felony. The sentences will run consecutively.

The 17-year-old attacked his father about 8 p.m. April 1, 2016 after an argument on the 3600 block of 3rd Street S., near Thomas Jefferson Middle School. 

When the dispute continued outside, Arlington County Police were dispatched to the 100 block of S. Glebe Road, just blocks away. Police found both Adams and his father suffering from stab wounds.

Medics rushed the elder Adams to the trauma center at George Washington University Hospital, where he later died.

Maxwell Adams initially told police he and his father had been victims of a home invasion. Then, he gave inconsistent accounts of what happened.

Police ultimately ruled out other leads and arrested Adams for murder. 

Arlington County prosecutor Theophani K. Stamos said she hoped the sentence would give the 18-year-old time to reflect on his crime.

“In her ruling, Judge DiMatteo gave the family of Andy Adams a measure of closure they have ached for since this awful incident," she said in a statement. "The defendant will now have the next 32 years of his life to contemplate from behind bars how his actions destroyed a family."

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