The judge preserved a possibility of parole after Green maintained his innocence and his lawyer argued against permanently foreclosing release.

GAMBRILLS, Md. — A Maryland man convicted of killing a McDonald’s employee through a drive-thru window in 2022 has been sentenced to life in prison plus 20 years, closing the trial-court phase of a case built on surveillance footage, a distinctive car and ballistic evidence. Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Elizabeth Morris imposed the sentence Sept. 23 on Ja’Quan Dontremique Green, 25, of Middle River, after a jury found him guilty in January of first-degree murder and use of a firearm in a crime of violence.

The sentence leaves open the possibility that Green could someday be considered for release rather than spending the rest of his life in prison with no chance of parole. That issue became a central point at the sentencing hearing. Green, who was 20 when Britrain Marcelus Gray was killed, continued to deny responsibility and asked the court not to eliminate all possibility of release. His attorney also argued for a sentence that preserved some prospect of redemption. Morris declined to impose life without parole while still adding 20 years to the life term.

Gray, 23, of Odenton, was working an overnight shift at the McDonald’s at 1130 Crain Highway South in Gambrills when the shooting occurred shortly before 5 a.m. May 13, 2022. Police were dispatched at about 4:45 a.m. after a report that an employee had been shot. Officers found Gray in the restaurant’s cash booth area suffering from a gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy performed the next day by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore ruled the death a homicide caused by a gunshot wound.

The circumstances captured on surveillance video gave investigators an early outline of what had happened. Prosecutors said the footage showed a black sedan with no tag and blacked-out windows circling the outside of the restaurant. The vehicle stopped, and a person got out, approached the drive-thru window and fired three shots from a 9mm handgun at close range while Gray was working inside. The shooter then ran back to the car and left. Police said early in the investigation that the shooting appeared to be targeted and that they did not believe there was an ongoing danger to the public.

For weeks, however, authorities did not publicly identify a suspect. The investigation moved forward through a combination of video, physical evidence and information gathered about the person police later accused. Detectives noted details about the shooter’s clothing, including a dark jacket with a fur-lined hood, boots with fur trim and gloves with writing on them. Prosecutors later said investigators reviewed social media associated with Green and saw a vehicle resembling the sedan in the restaurant footage, clothing resembling what the shooter wore and a firearm that appeared similar to the one seen in the case.

A search warrant served at Green’s residence added another part to the prosecution’s case. Authorities said investigators recovered items from his bedroom that appeared similar to the boots, gloves and jacket visible in the surveillance material. The clothing evidence did not stand alone. It was part of a larger chain that prosecutors said connected Green to both the vehicle and the weapon used in the shooting. The state ultimately relied on those overlapping pieces of evidence at trial rather than on a publicly identified eyewitness who said they saw Green fire the shots.

The most direct physical link emerged after Green was arrested July 7, 2022, in Prince George’s County on an unrelated criminal matter. He was driving a black 2001 Cadillac Catera, which prosecutors described as a rare vehicle based on Maryland motor vehicle records. Officers also recovered a handgun from Green. Firearms examiners later concluded that the gun was consistent with having fired the three 9mm shell casings recovered outside the McDonald’s drive-thru window. Investigators also compared a decal on Green’s Cadillac with a decal visible on the sedan recorded at the restaurant.

Anne Arundel County police announced Green’s arrest in the Gray case that July, about two months after the killing. At the time, the department continued to ask for information and said investigators had identified Green through their work on the case. More detailed evidence was made public later by prosecutors. The case eventually went before an Anne Arundel County jury in January 2026. After a seven-day trial, jurors convicted Green on Jan. 21 of first-degree murder and use of a firearm in a crime of violence, setting the stage for the sentencing hearing eight months later.

One question remained notably unsettled even after the conviction: why Gray was killed. Prosecutors did not offer a firm motive at sentencing. Assistant State’s Attorney Glen Neubauer said the evidence suggested there might have been no meaningful motive at all or a reason so slight that it did little to explain the killing. He told the court Gray may have appeared in a social media video made by a relative that mocked someone Green knew or the neighborhood where Green lived. Gray’s older brother, Charles Blackeney, said Gray and Green did not know each other.

The sentencing hearing therefore focused less on explaining a motive and more on the consequences of the killing and the punishment Green would receive. Prosecutors presented victim-impact statements from Gray’s relatives, who described the loss of their younger brother and the place he had occupied in the family. Blackeney spoke in court and recalled the call informing him that Gray had been killed. Family members described Gray as hardworking and joyful, with a laugh and smile they remembered clearly. After the hearing, Blackeney said the family believed the life sentence was justified and that they were ready to continue healing.

Green addressed the court as well. He said he did not want to minimize the family’s loss, but he maintained that he was not responsible for Gray’s death. “Respectfully, I cannot take responsibility for something I did not do,” Green said. Defense attorney Michele Vignola urged Morris to leave open a possibility of parole. She described Green’s difficult childhood, including periods of homelessness and exposure to violence, as part of the background the judge should consider. Morris ultimately preserved the possibility of parole and said Green could try to earn a path toward redemption.

State’s Attorney Anne Colt Leitess framed the sentence as accountability for an overnight-shift worker killed while doing his job. Her office emphasized that Gray had been assembling Happy Meal boxes when he was shot, a detail that underscored the ordinary work setting in which the homicide occurred. Leitess also credited Assistant State’s Attorneys Neubauer and Murphy Hartford, along with Detective Juan Honesto and the Anne Arundel County Police Department Homicide Unit, for the investigation and prosecution that led to the conviction.

The Sept. 23 sentence ends the principal trial-court proceedings described by prosecutors, but it does not erase the disagreement at the center of the case. A jury found Green guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, and Morris imposed life plus 20 years; Green nevertheless maintained his innocence at sentencing. The court did not impose life without parole, meaning the sentence leaves open a future possibility of release rather than guaranteeing that Green will die in prison. For Gray’s family, the hearing marked the latest legal milestone more than four years after he was killed during his overnight shift in Gambrills.

Author note: Last updated November 8, 2026.