Judge Changes Defendant’s Release Conditions from Home Confinement to Curfew

By D.C. Witness Staff - June 18, 2020
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Suspects |

On June 18, a judge decided to change a defendant’s release restrictions.

Harry Brown is charged with assault with a dangerous weapon in a felony domestic violence case.

District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Sean Staples switched Brown from home confinement to the high intensity supervision program (HISP) with a standard curfew.

Brown was original scheduled for a hearing for violating a home confinement restriction multiple times between March 16 and June 14. A notice of noncompliance was submitted on June 17.

The defendant’s legal counsel, Stephany Reaves, told Judge Staples that she and the defendant were not aware that he could not leave his house.

Brown’s defense attorney read her notes from an earlier proceeding in which a judge said that Brown’s home confinement would not be permanent. She said she was also unaware that he could not leave his house at all. 

She acknowledged that the official court documents did say that Brown would be in constant home confinement, but she argued that Brown was also unaware of his inability to leave his house.

On June 15, the defendant has been allowed to attend a funeral.

According to his defense attorney, this is the first time Brown has been arrested and he now understands what he needs to do to stay in compliance, though the restriction is a hardship.

Brown has a daughter to take care of and has been working odd jobs to bring in money. Brown’s job, which is working for a faith-based organization, was put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The prosecutor on the case said that Brown has been given a total of seven warnings for his continued violations.

But, the prosecution agreed with Brown’s counsel surrounding the hardship of home confinement and requested that Brown be placed under HISP, which has a standard curfew from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Brown is scheduled for another hearing on Oct. 8. His case is currently pending grand jury.