In the late hours of a November evening in Woodbridge, Virginia, the life of 32-year-old Tristan Vernon Sellers was tragically cut short. On November 18, 2019, in the parking lot of DMV Studios, a local recording studio on Old Bridge Road, an altercation that began inside the establishment spilled out into the night and escalated with fatal consequences. Sellers, a Black/African American male, was shot during the physical confrontation. When police officers arrived at the scene, they found him unresponsive. Despite immediate medical attention, he was pronounced dead.
The investigation into the homicide moved swiftly. Within two days, law enforcement identified a suspect in the shooting. Cinquan Louis Blakney, a 43-year-old man from Washington, D.C., was located and apprehended by the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force at an apartment in Greenbelt, Maryland. Blakney was charged with murder and the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony in connection with the death of Tristan Sellers.
In the subsequent legal proceedings, Cinquan Louis Blakney faced the charges brought against him. Ultimately, he chose to enter an Alford plea of no contest to a lesser charge of second-degree murder. This plea acknowledged that the prosecution had sufficient evidence to likely secure a conviction, while not requiring Blakney to admit guilt. The court accepted his plea and he was sentenced for his role in the death of Tristan Vernon Sellers.
