BALTIMORE, MD—A Maryland drug dealer has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a woman and her 7-year-old child in connection with federal drug trafficking crimes.

U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett this week sentenced Andre Ricardo Briscoe, a/k/a “Poo”, 39, of Baltimore and Cambridge, to life in federal prison for federal drug distribution charges, use of a firearm to commit murder in relation to drug trafficking crimes, killing a witness to prevent communication with law enforcement, and being a felon in possession of firearm and ammunition. Briscoe was convicted of those charges on June 8, 2022, after a 12-day jury trial.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron; Special Agent in Charge Toni M. Crosby of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Baltimore Field Division; Special Agent in Charge Thomas J. Sobocinski of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; Commissioner Michael Harrison of the Baltimore Police Department; and Chief Justin Todd of the Cambridge Police Department.

According to the facts proven at his trial, from March through October 2015, Briscoe conspired with others to distribute heroin. On May 25, 2015, Briscoe traveled from his home in Cambridge, to the home of co-defendant Kiara Haynes, with whom he was romantically involved. He told Haynes that he planned to steal heroin from Jennifer Jeffrey, a long-time friend of Haynes. According to trial testimony, during the course of the evening, Briscoe explained that Ms. Jeffrey had heroin and he planned to rob and kill Ms. Jeffrey to get the heroin. Haynes told Briscoe she would help him get a gun.

Haynes subsequently contacted a relative whom she knew to have a gun. The relative was incarcerated at the time. Haynes told the relative on a recorded jail line that she needed the gun so Briscoe could rob Ms. Jeffrey of her drugs. In exchange for allowing Haynes to use the gun, Haynes promised to give the inmate “like 30 [grams]” of the stolen heroin and give him the gun back. The inmate agreed to loan Haynes the gun. After the call, Haynes and Briscoe met with the inmate’s brother, who gave Haynes a .45 caliber firearm. Briscoe and Haynes returned to Haynes’s apartment with the gun.

Later that night, Briscoe left Haynes’s apartment and went to visit Ms. Jeffrey at her nearby home. As detailed during trial testimony, after Briscoe returned to Haynes’s apartment on the morning of May 27, 2015, Briscoe told Haynes that Ms. Jeffrey had shown him a large amount of heroin and that Ms. Jeffrey’s child did not feel well and had not gone to school that day. At approximately 11:41 a.m. Haynes overheard Briscoe on the phone with Ms. Jeffrey, who was talking about making breakfast for Briscoe. Briscoe retrieved the .45-caliber gun from Haynes’s bedroom and told her that he was going to Ms. Jeffrey’s to get the drugs.

Briscoe then went to Ms. Jeffrey’s home, where he carried out his plan by robbing her of at least 80 grams of drugs and murdered Ms. Jeffrey, shooting her in the wrist, shoulder, chest, and back of the head. Briscoe also killed Ms. Jeffrey’s child while he was in his bed by shooting the child multiple times in the head.

Briscoe returned to Haynes’s apartment and told her that Jennifer Jeffrey and her child were dead and gave Haynes a bag of heroin as her “cut.” As detailed in Haynes’s plea agreement, she returned the gun to the inmate’s relative along with the heroin given to her by Briscoe, as payment for the use of the gun. On May 28, 2015, after a receiving a call for assistance, the Baltimore Police Department discovered Ms. Jeffrey and her child dead in their home.

Co-defendant Kiara Haynes, 38, of Baltimore, was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for two counts of aiding and abetting the use and discharge of a firearm in relation to a drug trafficking crime and crime of violence, causing the death of Jennifer Jeffrey and her seven-year-old child.

Photo by RODNAE Productions from Pexels