WASHINGTON — A District woman was sentenced to eight years in prison Friday for a drunken crash that disfigured a 5-year-old girl and seriously injured her father last year.
Thamyyah Veney, 33, wept and asked for forgiveness in D.C. Superior Court as she faced Judge Jason Park for sentencing. Her attorney asked for a bottom-of-the-guidelines sentence of four years in prison. Prosecutors sought 10 years behind bars.
Veney pleaded guilty in December to one felony count of aggravated assault while armed with a vehicle for a July 2023 drunken driving crash that injured three people, including a father, Ronald Gordon, and his 5-year-old daughter, R.G. Gordon and R.G. were standing at a bus stop when the Ford Five Hundred Veney was driving blew through a stop sign and collided with an Acura. Vene’s Ford then drove straight into Gordon and R.G., along with a third victim, before crashing into a nearby home.
First responders found Gordon lying nearby with serious lacerations to his leg. R.G. was pinned under the Ford and couldn’t be reached until firefighters used a ladder as a makeshift lever to remove her. She was airlifted in critical condition to Children’s National Hospital with a fractured skull, broken hip and shoulder, and other serious injuries.
Veney, who walked a short distance from the crash before sitting down, was taken into custody on suspicious of drunken driving. A breath test conducted three hours after the crash determined she still had a blood alcohol content nearly twice the legal limit.
Both Gordon and his wife, Tia, spoke on Friday before Veney was sentenced. Tia said R.G. has had to go through numerous surgeries, and is scheduled for yet another one soon on one of her eyes. She’s also still waiting to learn whether she will keep one of her legs injured in the crash/
Gordon said he’d been forced to retire following the crash, but that what he suffered was nothing compared to what his daughter will have to go through as she ages and has to deal with her physical disfigurement.
“For the rest of our time here on planet Earth, we’ll have to deal with what happened on July 8,” Gordon said. “Every day I look at my daughter and I’m traumatized all over again. Every day I have to encourage her and let her know she’s strong, and she’s good, and she’s still a beautiful baby.”
Veney spoke briefly during the hearing, saying through sobs that she has a 6-year-old child herself and hoped someday the Gordon family could forgive her.
“I am deeply sorry,” Veney said. “I am so deeply sorry and I never meant to hurt your family and I Hope one day you can find it in your heart to forgive me.”
Park credited Veney for her display of remorse, but also said he was troubled by the fact that she hadn’t tried to help Gordon or R.G. after hitting them. He credited both the Gordon family and the defense for how they’d handled the case and their letters to the court before sentencing.
“I have seen a lot of sentencings, both on this side of the table and the other, and the type of grace that has been shown is not something you often see,” Park said.
Ultimately, he sentenced Veney to 96 months – or eight years – in prison. That will be followed by five years of supervised release. Outside of court, R.G.’s parents told WUSA9 they were satisfied with the sentence.
“I believe what they gave her is good,” Gordon said. “It’s fair. God did what he wanted.”
R.G. recorded a short video for the hearing but was not inside the courtroom. She joined her family outside in the hallway, where, apart from the visible scars on her head, she showed all the energy typical of a 5-year-old. Her parents said she has been able to return to school since the crash last year.
Veney will receive credit for the nearly nine months she has spent in jail since her arrest last year.