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Amy Ashworth
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A Manassas man who brought an Uzi to Manassas Mall got a lenient sentence after Commonwealth Attorney Amy Ashworth offered him a sweetheart deal to close out two separate cases related to the mall shooting and a separate case where jail officials alleged he participated in a jailhouse beating with five other men who cornered and beat three members of a rival gang.
Daevon Russell, 19, of 9306 Taney Road in Manassas, who at the time, was on pre-trial probation for a 2023 Manassas City shooting that left another teen paralyzed from the neck down, went to the Manassas Mall on July 9, 2024, armed with the Uzi and got into an altercation with another group of teens in the food court.
Mauricio Antonio Mayorga, 48, was sentenced to 22 years in prison on Nov. 21 for a March 2023 murder in the Hoadly Road Food Lion parking lot.
Judge James A. Willett found Mayorga guilty of one count of second-degree murder following his guilty plea on the charge. Willett also sentenced Mayorga.
Ezzedin Baryoh was sentenced to nearly 70 years in prison after being found guilty by a Prince William County jury following an April 2023 shooting in Triangle.
According to a release from Commonwealth’s Attorney Amy Ashworth, Prince William County Circuit Court Judge Petula C. Metzler sentenced Baryoh on Friday to serve 93 years with 25 years suspended, leaving 68 years to serve followed by five years of supervised probation.
In a meeting on October 8, 2024, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors approved funding for new positions in the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office, addressing the office’s need for additional resources to handle an increasing caseload. The positions include four new attorney roles: paralegal, victim-witness staff, and administrative staff. Commonwealth Attorney Amy Ashworth emphasized the importance of these positions for the efficiency and effectiveness of the county’s criminal justice system.
The new hires come after Ashworth said she would withhold prosecution of certain misdemeanor charges, effective May 1, 2024, if county leaders don’t give her more employees.
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In Prince William County, a catch-and-release style revolving justice system keeps more criminals on the street in the name of fairness.
A shooting at Manassas Mall on July 9, 2024, left two people injured, including one of five suspects in the case, underscores a more significant problem with the justice system in a much more progressive Prince William County.
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Eric Ronaldo Benitez, 22, of Croce Court, near Manassas is in custody. The second suspect, Tayvion Omari Thornton, 18, of Cove Landing Drive in Woodbridge, is wanted.
Benitez is charged with two counts of malicious wounding, 1 count of willfully discharging a firearm in a public place, and one count of using a gun in the commission of a felony.
Balmore Ortiz Guardado, 36, of Dale City, will spend at least 35 years in prison after Prince William County Circuit Court Judge Kimberly A. Irving sentenced him to a life sentence. Guardado was charged with drugging and raping women and girls.
From Prince William County Commonwealth Attorney Amy Ashworth’s office:
