Judge Releases Domestic Violence Defendant, Placing Him on 24-Hour Home Confinement

By Isabelle Chiu [former] - June 30, 2022
Court | Daily Stories | Domestic Violence | Suspects |

After a domestic violence defendant waived his preliminary hearing, DC Superior Court Judge Michael O’Keefe released him into home confinement with GPS monitoring.

The defendant is accused of repeatedly assaulting multiple victims, including his sister, in his home before threatening them with a gun on at least two separate occasions. 

He was arrested for assaulting his sister and another individual. According to court documents, the defendant waived the weapon at the victims while shouting, “I’ll shoot y’all–I’ll kill y’all.” 

The defendant was charged with first-degree assault with a dangerous weapon on June 27. 

During the June 30 hearing, defense attorney Winston Yallery-Arthur asked Judge O’Keefe to release the defendant from the DC Jail, citing the defendant’s lack of prior convictions, employment status, and community support. 

Judge O’Keefe pointed out that although the defendant had no prior convictions, he has had many contacts with the juvenile court since 2014. “These prior contacts with the court are pretty concerning,” said Judge O’Keefe. “Some of them are violent.”

The prosecutor objected to Yallery-Arthur’s request for release, arguing there had been a prior incident between the defendant and his sister earlier this year. Additionally, the prosecutor said she had video footage from the police of the defendant waving a gun in an unrelated incident. The gun was similar to the one used in the domestic violence incident. 

Yallery-Arthur responded that the defendant was not a danger to the public because the incident occurred in the defendant’s home, not in public.

“He didn’t go out looking for trouble,” said Yallery-Arthur. 

Judge O’Keefe decided to release the defendant into home confinement with GPS monitoring and a stay-away order from the victims in this case. 

The next hearing is scheduled for Aug. 9.