Photo by voteprime.

A D.C. man was sentenced to 17 years in prison today for the 2011 murder of a cab driver during a robbery.

Rashad Slye, 23, pleaded guilty in January to second-degree murder while armed. According to the government, Slye and 40-year-old cab driver Domingo Ezirike argued over an additional $.75 fare Ezirike asked for on top of $27. Slye pulled out a gun and demanded the money back.

Slye struck Mr. Ezirike in the head with the gun and continued searching him, insisting he was hiding the money. Mr. Ezirike offered to remove his pants and while still on the ground, did so. Slye then entered the vehicle, still holding Mr. Ezirike on the ground at gunpoint, as he searched the front passenger compartment. He then ordered Mr. Ezirike back into the taxicab and insisted that he search for money. Then, as Mr. Ezirike sat in the driver’s seat, Slye fired a single shot that struck him in the arm, causing him to immediately fall back into the seat and remain still. Slye immediately fled the scene towards the 1500 block of Anacostia Avenue NE.

“In my twenty-three years, I never listened, not once,” Slye said during his sentencing, according to Homicide Watch. “You told me, ‘You gonna end up in jail,” Slye said. At the time of the murder, Slye was under the care and custody of the D.C. Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services.