Judge Grants Defendant’s Request for New Attorney

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A DC Superior Court judge granted a defendant’s request for a different attorney.

The defendant, 26, is charged in multiple cases for simple assault, sexual abuse, threats to do bodily harm and bail violation.

“I need a new f***ing lawyer to hurry the f*** up in my case,” he said. “I need you to find what the f*** is going on in my case, I’ve been waiting all this time. You talk the same f***ing thing over and over.”

Judge Michael Ryan kicked the defendant out of the courtroom call after he ignored the judge’s requests to stop yelling.

Defense attorney Hannah Akintoye said she could continue representing the defendant, whose case she did not want to be delayed more by a change in counsel.

However, Judge Ryan decided the defendant’s repeated requests and negative lawyer-client relationship merited a new attorney.

The defendant was found mentally incompetent to stand trial on Dec. 19, 2019, and Jan. 21, but was declared competent on Feb. 20.

During the Aug. 4 hearing, Judge Ryan ordered he receive a mental health screening. He ordered one on July 24, but it did not happen.

The defendant has been held since Oct. 15, 2019. Akintoye said her client’s sickle cell anemia places him at a high risk for COVID-19. However, he refused to attend his bond review hearings on April 28 and April 30.

Akintoye also accepted the prosecution’s request to admit body-worn camera from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) as evidence.

According to court documents, on June 14, 2019, the defendant allegedly spat on an MPD officer on the 1200 block of Southern Avenue, SE. He was charged with simple assault.

When he was a patient in the psychiatric ward at the United Medical Center, he allegedly grabbed a social worker and punched her in the face repeatedly on July 26, 2019. He yelled, “White b****! Kill you all,” among other remarks. The defendant was charged with simple assault for the incident.

On July 31, 2019, the defendant allegedly asked a woman to kiss him on a train at L’Enfant Plaza Station. When she refused, he forcibly tried to kiss her. She pushed the defendant away, who then allegedly spat in her face and yelled, “go back to Africa!” He was charged with sexual abuse and simple assault.

The defendant is also charged with the bail violation for failing to appear for a hearing on Sept. 4, 2019.

He is charged with simple assault and threats to do bodily harm.

The defendant’s next hearing is scheduled for Sept. 3.