Judge Moves Up Murder Trial

By D.C. Witness Staff - June 23, 2021
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

A DC Superior Court judge set a murder defendant’s trial to begin nearly a year earlier than what was previously scheduled. 

Clinton Womack is charged with first-degree murder while armed in the shooting of 45-year-old Terry Crutchfield on the 1500 block of Olive Street, NE, on Dec. 6, 2016.

Earlier this year, a judge scheduled the 31-year-old defendant to go before a jury in July 2023. But during the June 22 hearing, Judge Juliet McKenna said that, due to changes in courtroom availability, the trial could happen sooner. 

Judge McKenna set aside Aug. 3 through 24, 2022, for jury selection and trial. 

Womack has been held at DC Jail since he was arrested in December 2016. Womack was scheduled to go to trial once in 2018, twice in 2019 and once again in 2020, D.C. Witness reported.

During a hearing last March for a different homicide case, Judge Danya Dayson said the court is keeping a list of the trials they have scheduled, so, when more courtrooms become available, those trials could potentially be rescheduled for an earlier date.

Parties are also waiting for a ruling from Judge Milton Lee on a defense motion to suppress evidence that defense attorney Steven Kiersh argued was obtained in violation of his client’s constitutional rights. Judge McKenna scheduled a trial readiness hearing for Oct. 29 to address this.