Judges Hold 21% of Defendants During Initial Hearings in Second Half of October

By D.C. Witness Staff - November 3, 2020
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Between Oct. 16 and Oct. 31, DC Superior Court judges presided over a total of 348 cases during initial hearings, which is an increase of 14 percent from the first half of October.

Of the 348 cases, judges held 74 defendants in DC Jail. They released 274 defendants on pretrial supervision or probation.

Overall, judges held around 21 percent of all defendants and released almost 79 percent of the defendants. Compared to the first half of October, judges held almost 5 percent less in the second half of October.

Of the four judges that presided over the hearings, Judge Errol Arthur held the highest percentage of defendants, 26 percent. He heard only 77 cases in total and held 20 of the defendants.

Judge Juliet McKenna held the lowest percentage of defendants, releasing just over 84 percent of all defendants and only holding around 16 percent. In total, she heard 63 cases during this time period.

Judge Sean Staples and Judge Heide Herrmann held defendants at similar rates. Judge Staples presided over 163 cases, holding close to 22 percent and releasing around 78 percent. Judge Herrmann heard only 45 cases and held 20 percent, releasing 80 percent.

There were 66 domestic violence cases, 93 felony cases, 117 misdemeanor cases, 14 traffic cases, 58 fugitive cases and 25 bench warrant cases.

In all of the cases, judges mentioned at least 46 instances of violations, which occurred while defendants were either on pretrial release, probation or parole.

The violations included failing to appear at hearings, violating stay away orders, tampering with a GPS monitoring device or failing to get one installed, failing to register as a gun offender and not reporting to the Pretrial Services Agency (PSA).

According to D.C. Witness data, violations have increased by more than 21 percent from the beginning of October to the end of the month. In total, there were 84 violations mentioned for the full month of October.

Of the 348 defendants brought before the court, at least 88 of them were on some sort of supervision, including pretrial release, probation or parole. This is an 11 percent increase from the first half of October.

Looking at domestic violence cases in the District, the court saw 66 new cases come through in just two weeks. This is an increase of almost 16 percent from the beginning of October. 

Of the 66 new cases, judges held 12 defendants in DC Jail and released 54. In total, just over 18 percent of the domestic violence defendants were held while almost 82 percent were released.

Charges for the domestic violence defendants who were held, included simple assault, contempt, destruction of property, violations of Temporary Protective Orders (TPO) or Civil Protective Orders (CPO) and weapon possession charges. 

Additionally, seven of the held defendants were either on pretrial release or probation when they allegedly committed new offenses.

*Editor’s note: All figures in the above article are approximate.

This report was written by Krystin Roehl. Caitlyn O’Neil contributed.