DC Superior Court Judge Andrea Hertzfeld deemed a carjacking defendant competent following a mental restoration effort, but denied the defense’s request for release during a hearing on July 8.
Derrick Curtis, 23, is charged with unarmed carjacking for his alleged involvement in the carjacking of a Moped scooter on Dec. 30, 2024, at the 1500 block of Benning Road NE.
According to police reports, Curtis pushed a driver off his moped before allegedly fleeing on the stolen scooter.
Curtis was found competent after his first evaluation. However, the defense requested Curtis undergo a second competency exam starting on July 2 given serious reservations about Curtis’ abilitity to understand the changes against him and help his attorney, Todd Baldwin. The baseline is necessary for a defendant to go on trial.
After undergoing competency restoration, doctors at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital have say they have restoree him to competence through reality based treatment, requesting that he be returned to the jail pending trial.
Though the parties had no objections to the finding, Baldwin requested that Curtis be released from jail on 24-hour home confinement pending trial.
Baldwin explained that it was the dangerous conditions at the jail, as well as violent incidents he experienced while there, that initially eroded Curtis’ mental health.
Judge Hertzfeld denied the request, explaining that Curtis’ release could endanger the community. . Hertzfeld requested that Curtis be moved from the general population in the Central Detentential Facility (CDF) to the Central Treatment Facility (CTF) in the DC Jail to help keep him mentally stable.
Parties are set to reconvene on Aug. 13.
