Teenage Brothers Get 30 Years In Prison For 2022 Germantown Murder

GERMANTOWN, MD — Two teenage brothers from Kensington were sentenced Tuesday for the 2022 murder in Germantown of 20-year-old Taon Lamont Cline of Frederick.

A Montgomery County Circuit Court judge sentenced Malik Hney, 17, and Malachi Hney, 18, to life in prison, suspending all but 30 years, and five years of supervised probation upon release after a jury convicted them on Oct. 3, 2023, of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.

Cline was shot in the back outside a Germantown apartment complex on April 22, 2022, in the 19000 block of Gunners Branch Rd. in Germantown. The investigation revealed the Hney brothers and two additional co-defendants were involved in an ongoing dispute between gangs in the Germantown and Gaithersburg areas.

The two other defendants in the killing are a juvenile and Daylon Miller, 19, who is scheduled for trial in May, according to the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office.

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At Tuesday's sentencing hearing, the judge said Malik Hney had one of the most extensive juvenile records she had ever seen. The judge said more than 600 exhibits showed Hney’s obsession with guns and violence, MoCo360 reported.

The judge also noted at Tuesday's hearing that Malik Hney threatened the victim’s family after the verdict was announced last October, telling them he was going to kill them.

The judge recommended both brothers be admitted to the Patuxent Youthful Offenders Program while incarcerated.