DC Superior Court Judge Judith Pipe reprimanded a prosecutor on Oct. 14 for delays in DNA testing during a shooting case.
Malik Stone, 28, is charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, possession of a firearm during crime of violence, and two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm for his alleged involvement in a shooting that occurred July 30 on the 2100 block of R Street, SE.
The prosecutor had reached out to the Department of Forensic Sciences (DFS) to set a date when the DNA testing would be complete. He told the court during the hearing that the latest was at the end of January and asked for a new trial date in early February. The trial is scheduled to begin Dec. 3.
Stone’s defense attorney, Henry Druschel, opposed moving the date. He argued that even though the prosecution had not originally known if they were going to do DNA testing, they had plenty of time to begin testing. He argued that half of the speedy trial clock had passed by the time testing was requested.
Druschel asked the judge to either deny a new trial date or release Stone until his trial begins if the date is moved.
The testing includes two firearms and their magazines recovered on the day of the arrest and two mouth l swabs taken from the defendant and his brother. Judge Pipe told the prosecution that he should have done testing much sooner.
When the prosecutor explained that the delay was caused by his participation in anothe trial, Judge Pipe acknowledged the conflict. However, she said, “But you’re also the U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO), and there need to be failsafes in place” in order to manage his other cases.
In response, the prosecution said that he faced multiple levels of approval to get expedited testing. Still, Judge Pipe told him that he needed to work around that in that issue and that currently his actions aren’t in good faith.
She denied the request to move the trial date and told the prosecution to expedite the testing or see if the USAO would object to releasing Stone until the trial.
Parties are slated to reconvene Oct. 21.
