A judge Monday sentenced a 25-year-old woman who schemed with her twin sister to have her boyfriend murder her brother to 25 years in prison and five years probation.
Leaundra Matthews was convicted by a jury in August for the 2017 murder of her 17-year-old brother Christian Matthews at their home in Silver Spring, Maryland. Prosecutors described Leaundra Matthews as playing an “integral” role in the plot to kill her brother, serving as the driver to and from the murder scene.
Her attorney Jeffrey Zahler told local news website MoCo360 that he plans to appeal the case because his client’s brother abused her and her child, and he was unable to present evidence of that at trial.
“The sentence was a little higher than necessary, considering she was convicted of a second-degree murder,” Zahler told the outlet.
Leaundra Matthews’ boyfriend Tysean Lipford, 26, was convicted of second-degree murder in 2019 and is serving a 30-year prison sentence. Another man, 27-year-old Daniel Howard, who allegedly held Christian Matthews down as Lipford choked him to death, is scheduled to go on trial in July. In addition, Leaundra’s twin sister, Lemae Matthews, pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to murder in October 2021 and will be sentenced after Howard’s trial.