DC Superior Court Judge Maribeth Raffinan granted a stabbing defendant’s request for changes in release in a July 1 hearing.
Lawrence Twisdale, 49, was sentenced to two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon in January 2024 for his involvement in a stabbing that injured two people. This stems from an incident that occurred on Aug. 29, 2021 on the 400 block of P Street, NW.
Twisdale was recently released into the community on June 6, serving two years of probation.
During the hearing, Kavya Naini, Twisdale’s attorney, requested a reduction of Twisdale’s ninety community service hours to ten hours and the removal of GPS monitoring. The request was based on several factors, including reports that Twisdale had been doing well in jail, taking GED classes, going to rehab, and complying with all probation requirements. He also had no violations during his two years on GPS monitoring before sentencing.
Naini explained that Twisdale is seeking employment and is concerned excessive community service might interfere with his job search.
The prosecution had no objection to the proposed changes and deferred to the court’s decision.
Judge Raffinan ruled that while Twisdale had shown improvement, the offense was still significant, and probation condition guidelines were set on the assumption that Twisdale would not face jail time. However, while not granting the full reduction in community service hours, Judge Raffinan ordered a reduction to 30 hours of community service over the two-year probation period, along with the removal of GPS monitoring.
No further dates were set.
