DC Superior Court Judge Neal Kravitz maintained the release conditions for a homicide defendant on June 12 after she removed her GPS ankle monitor and violated her home confinement requirement.
Shawnta Aiken, 52, is charged with second-degree murder while armed for her alleged involvement in the fatal shooting of her husband, Richard Walker, 56, on the 3000 block of P Street, SE, on Nov. 2, 2025.
During the pretrial hearing, defense attorney Dominique Winters provided context to Aiken’s release violations laid out in four reports since May 6 from the Pretrial Services Agency (PSA). According to Judge Kravitz, it alleged that Aiken cut off her ankle monitor and left her home twice.
Aiken was released on May 1 to 24-hour home confinement at her mother’s house. Judge Kravitz granted release after Winters explained in that hearing that Aiken sustained years of domestic abuse from Walker.
Judge Kravitz decided to leave Aiken’s release conditions unchanged after a PSA representative said that there is “marginal compliance,” and that there have been no violations since May 19.
“I will not be as understanding if this happens again,” Judge Kravitz said.
According to Winters, Aiken removed her ankle monitor after a bath caused it to malfunction and she grew worried about electrocution.
Winters then claimed that Aiken left home to go to an AutoZone and to retrieve her belongings from a storage unit that were going to be auctioned off. Winters also said that the time since Aiken’s release was “not the smoothest transition,” since Winters was on leave for part of it, and so was Aiken’s case manager from the Public Defender Service’s Office of Rehabilitation and Development.
Winters said that Aiken was reminded that services and appointments will be set up for her. “Since we’ve conveyed that to her, we haven’t had any issues,” Winters said. Winters argued that Aiken was not intentionally defiant of her release conditions–she was just anxious about her appointments and treatment plan. Mental health and drug rehabilitation services were put in place, Winters said.
The prosecution filed a motion to revoke Aiken’s bond, which Winters said was inaccurate. She said the motion incorrectly stated that Aiken removed her GPS device within 24 hours of her release. According to Winters, Aiken removed her monitor multiple days after her release.
During the hearing, the prosecution argued that the defense was caught up in the details and asked the court to look at the bigger picture of Aiken’s alleged crime.
According to the prosecutor, who was standing in for the assigned attorney, the \indictment against Aiken is expected to be ready by the end of July.
Parties are set to reconvene on July 31.
