Home Confinement and Stay Away Order Lifted for Pregnant Defendant

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A DC Superior Court judge lifted a pretrial home confinement requirement and stay away order for a defendant who is nine months pregnant. 

Cana Browne, 24, is charged with destruction of property less than $1,000 and threats to do bodily harm. On June 23, 2019, Browne allegedly initiated an altercation with the front-desk employee at the Fairfield Inn and Suites on the 2300 block of New York Avenue, NE. The fight allegedly broke out after the employee told her she could not retrieve her belongings from a room in which she had previously stayed. 

Browne appeared in court on Aug. 3 to address notices of noncompliance with the conditions of her pretrial release. During the hearing, a Pretrial Services Agency (PSA) representative said that, since being placed on the High Intensity Supervision Program (HISP) in February, Browne has failed to report to PSA once and violated her stay at home order four times.

The representative also said that Browne has 12 stay away order violations from another case, in which she is charged with distribution of a controlled substance.

Jacqueline Williams, Browne’s attorney, argued that many of her client’s stay away violations were an accident due to her traveling to receive prenatal care. She said that the stay away area, which is nearby a route she would often take when taking such trips, would occasionally trigger her GPS monitoring device.

Williams said her client is generally complying with her pretrial release conditions, and that, since she has recently moved to Maryland, she is actively trying to stay out of DC. Williams also pointed out her client’s enrollment in a reentry program that has connected her with a therapist and job training, and said that she is trying to prepare for motherhood.

“She is trying to get on the right track, she is making the right moves,” Williams said.

Williams asked Judge Gerald Fisher to revoke her client’s home confinement, arguing that, since she will soon have a newborn, it is no longer necessary.

The prosecution did not oppose, citing Browne’s relative compliance with release conditions and her need for prenatal care.

Browne will remain on GPS monitoring as she awaits trial in both of her cases. She is scheduled to return to court on Sept. 2.

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