Defence Attorney Waits Over a Year for Client’s Indictment

By Aerial Lopez [former] - January 31, 2023
Daily Stories | Sex Abuse | Sexual Assault |

During a Jan. 31 felony status hearing, the prosecution delayed filing for an indictment  in a sexual assault case for the fourth time.  

In 2020, the then 29-year-old victim discussed the alleged assault in a therapy session 15 years after the incident. The victim’s therapist reported the allegations to the Child and Protective Services Agency (CPSA) hotline, triggering an investigation.

The accused in question was an officer with the Metropolitan Police Department’s (MPD) 4th district. He’d met the victim in 2005 when she conducted an interview for her 10th grade history and government class. The victim was 15-years-old at the time of the assault. 

According to court documents, she and the accused participated in inappropriate relations over an extended period of time. 

In the most recent status hearing, the prosecution filed a motion to postpone the indictment of the defendant by another 6 weeks per COVID-19 protocols. However, the prosecutor failed to mention why he was requesting a time extension.

The defense attorney on the case, Joseph L. Wright, moved to dismiss this request, saying his client has been “extraordinarily patient in this trial.” 

Wright added that he hasn’t heard a reasonable excuse for the trial’s delay and emphasized that “nothing has happened in this case” for over a year.  

When the original judge’s caseload was transferred to DC Superior Court Judge Maribeth Raffinan, she agreed to uphold this regulation. She said the protocol gave the prosecution time and an extension to delay indictment proceedings to compensate for a growing caseload.

Regardless of Wright’s reasoning, Judge Raffinan disagreed with him, saying she was inclined to maintain the original COVID policy and set an alternate hearing date. 

Judge Raffinan set a new indictment deadline in the case for June 6. 

The next hearing in this case was scheduled for March 23.