Close to One Quarter of Defendants Held During Initial Hearings in First Half of November

By D.C. Witness Staff - November 19, 2020
Featured | Homicides | Suspects |

Between Nov. 1 and Nov. 15, DC Superior Court judges presided over 248 cases during initial hearings, which is 28 percent less than the previous two weeks. 

Fifty-two defendants were held at the DC Jail and two were held under the supervision of the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS). The other 194 defendants were released with pretrial supervision conditions or put back onto probation or parole.

Overall, about 78 percent of defendants were released; judges held almost 22 percent. This is similar compared to the last two weeks in October, where judges held just over 21 percent of all cases.

Between the two DC Superior Court judges presiding over initial hearings, Judge Judith Pipe held the lowest percentage of defendants, holding about two percent less than Judge Heide Herrmann.

Judge Pipe held 28 defendants and released 106. In total, she held almost 21 percent of all defendants she spoke with.

Judge Herrmann held 26 defendants, releasing 88. In total, she held almost 23 percent of all defendants who came through her courtroom.

Compared to judges in October, Judge Pipe and Judge Herrmann were very close to average. The average of all defendants held in October was almost 23 percent. Judge Pipe held slightly below average and Judge Herrmann held right at average.

General Statistics

There were 58 domestic violence cases, 60 felonies, 76 misdemeanors, 12 traffic violations, 28 bench warrants and 56 fugitive case matters. The majority of all cases were misdemeanors, taking up over 26 percent of all cases.

At least 41 defendants that appeared for initial hearings were on supervision, which included pretrial, parole and probation. This is less than half of what was seen in the second half of October, though it is worth mentioning that sometimes the parties do not mention whether someone is on supervised release. Due to this discrepancy, there could be more people on some sort of supervision than listed. 

Judges mentioned a total of 35 violations of supervision. These include failure to appear at hearings, violating stay away orders, tampering with GPS monitoring devices and being considered a general loss of contact to either the Pretrial Services Agency (PSA) or to parole and probation officers.

Domestic Violence Cases

Of the domestic violence cases, 51 of the defendants were released and seven were held. 

The domestic violence charges included assault, contempt of release conditions, arson, violating Temporary Protection Orders (TPO) and Civil Protection Orders (CPO), threats to do bodily harm, cruelty to children, destruction of property and weapon possession. 

By far, the most common charge in domestic violence cases was simple assault, which consisted of almost 58 percent of all domestic violence cases. This trend has been consistent over the months that D.C. Witness has been tracking all cases.

The most common charge for held defendants was also simple assault. Contempt was the second most common charge.

Four of the held defendants were on probation or pretrial supervision at the time they allegedly committed their new offense. 

Felony Cases

Charges in felony cases include weapons offenses, drug possession and distribution, involuntary manslaughter, first and second-degree murder, first-degree sexual abuse and first-degree child sexual abuse, armed robbery, burglary, assault and traffic violations. Some defendants were charged with multiple offenses. 

The most common charge that judges held defendants on, in felony cases, were weapons offenses.

Additionally, at least three of the defendants held on felony charges were on probation or pretrial supervision at the time they allegedly committed their new offense.

This report was written by Caitlyn O’Neil, Maria Marzullo and Krystin Roehl

Editor’s note: All figures in the article should be considered as approximations.