Jovan Ali, 45, of Fairfax, Va., was sentenced to seven years in prison after a jury found him guilty of second-degree assault.
Ali was involved in an altercation April 17 with another person at the intersection of Georgia and Sligo avenues in Silver Spring. Ali was charged with stabbing the man in an incident that was captured on video by a Montgomery County police drone.
According to the drone video, Ali pulled a knife from his pocket and stabbed the man in the shoulder area, according to Montgomery County Police.
This is the first conviction in a jury trial in this county that resulted from the Drone as a First Responder Program.
“The drone video evidence in this case was critical for the State. We would not have been able to prove the defendant’s guilt without it. The value of this technology is immeasurable when it comes to public safety. It is a game-changer within the criminal justice system. We are grateful to Montgomery County Police for their advocacy and implementation of the Drone as a First Responder program,” said State’s Attorney John McCarthy after Ali’s conviction.
When police received a call about the altercation, an officer working in plain clothes, observed two subjects shoving each other and raising their fists but soon stopped appearing to fight each other. Ali went over and appeared to stab one of the men, according to the police report.
