Philadelphia Man Sentenced For Cambridge Homicide

Burlington, Vermont – The United States Attorney’s Office stated that Taylor Ruffin Herrington, 31, of Philadelphia, PA, was sentenced today in United States District Court in Burlington to 150 months of imprisonment following his guilty plea to using a firearm in connection with a drug trafficking crime which caused the death of Michael Haines, and conspiracy to distribute heroin and cocaine base. United States District Judge Christina Reiss also ordered that Herrington serve four years of supervised release following completion of his prison term and ordered him to pay restitution to the victims of the offense. Herrington has been incarcerated since his arrest in March 2020.

According to public records, between the summer of 2018 and March 2020, Taylor Ruffin Herrington was in the Chittenden County area of Vermont selling heroin and crack cocaine. On March 3, 2020, Herrington had a dispute with the victim, Michael Haines, because Haines had stolen Herrington’s heroin. Angry about the theft, Herrington fired six shots at the front of Michael Haines’s house in Cambridge, Vermont. One of the bullets fired by Herrington pierced the front of the house and struck Haines who was standing in the kitchen. By the time the police arrived, Michael Haines had died of the gunshot wound. 
 
This case was investigated by the Vermont State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Herrington was represented by Federal Public Defender Michael Desautels, Esq. The prosecutor was Assistant U.S. Attorney Wendy L. Fuller.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.  For more information about Project Safe Neighborhoods, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psn.