A grieving grandmother called on Washington D.C. politicians to end sentencing policies that downplay murder after her grandson was brutally murdered in 2017. She thanked President Donald Trump for making Washington D.C. safe again.
Grandmother Forlesia Cook last saw Marty William McMillan Jr., in Washington, DC, on April 23, 2017.
He went on a date with someone from a dating app and was never seen alive again. Cook advocated for criminal justice reform to U.S. politicians on Tuesday.
"MUST WATCH: A grieving grandmother calls out D.C.'s unjust sentencing policies. "He shot my grandson in cold blood SEVEN TIMES. And they didn't consider that as first-degree murder? "The bottom line is that murder in D.C. is treated as a joke when it comes time to justice."
MUST WATCH: A grieving grandmother calls out D.C.'s unjust sentencing policies.
— Senate Judiciary Republicans (@SenJudiciaryGOP) September 30, 2025
"He shot my grandson in cold blood SEVEN TIMES. And they didn't consider that as first-degree murder?
"The bottom line is that murder in D.C. is treated as a joke when it comes time to justice." pic.twitter.com/VmprE6iyTz
“I never understood the judicial system regarding murders until it happened to my family" Cook said. "My daughter has shared how she essentially had to solve our grandson's murder case—tracking down who killed him and how he got caught up in that situation after meeting a girl on a dating site and deciding to visit her. If it hadn't been for her detective work, the killer may have gotten away with it.”
2025-09-30 - Testimony - Cook1 by scott.mcclallen
In August, President Donald Trump issued an executive order declaring a crime emergency in the District. Trump sent troops to reduce violent crime over the objections of people who claimed there wasn’t a crime problem. Democrats pointed to lower crime statistics as proof that there wasn’t a crime epidemic, but the city has been accused of cooking its crime statistics.
U.S.Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, posted a picture with Cook on social media. “
Thank u 2 DC native Forlesia Cook for bravely sharing your grandson’s story during Judic Cmte hrg this morning Congress must put a stop 2 the soft on crime policies that failed ur family & many others.”
For example, the city apparently avoided a first-degree murder charge in this case, even though the shooter shot someone else seven times, according to testimony.
Police reduce felonies to misdemeanors to keep crime numbers low, release violent criminals immediately after their arrest, judges doling out light sentences for murderers, according to Gregg Pemberton, Chairman of the D.C. Police Union.
Grassley slammed the District for allegedly cooking crime statistics to downplay violent crime.
Grassley asked Pemberton: “Critics claim the Trump Administration didn’t need to mobilize the National Guard in D.C because D.C. crime decreased by 35 percent in 2024. You’ve suggested that statistic was falsely inflated. In a House Oversight Committee, D.C. Chairman Mendelson said you were lying. Is the 35 percent statistic inflated? … Do you think this is a common problem with crime statistics?”
Pemberton responded: “The Internal Affairs Division at the Metropolitan Police Department had publicly announced they were investigating command staff officials for manipulating crime data. The accusation was that they were going into police databases and changing felonies to misdemeanors to keep crime numbers down. “Do I believe that crime data was inflated? Yes… Our members report to [the D.C. Police Union] quite often… that when officers respond to the scene of a crime, and they’re investigating what they believe is a felony, inevitably some management official will contact them, either by arriving on the scene or by phone, and direct them or sometimes even order them to take a report for lesser offenses – typically misdemeanors – to keep those crime stats down.
Cook said that she never received justice for her grandson's murder.
“No, we did not receive justice. He was given, concurrently, with the time that he was charged with guns and drugs, 10 years concurrently. So, he had already done four, now how many years does that mean? He’ll get five years of probation or on parole? So how many years does he actually do in jail? This is a heinous murder that he committed.”
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