Judge Pushes Indictment Deadline Back to Search for Witnesses

By D.C. Witness Staff - July 26, 2018
Court | Homicides | Suspects |

A DC Superior Court judge pushed a murder defendant’s grand jury hearing back three weeks, so the prosecution could locate two witnesses.

Giovanti Young is charged with first-degree murder while armed for allegedly shooting Andre Jahmal Johnson on the 5000 block of H Street, SE in 2017.

According to the prosecution, surveillance footage shows two unidentified witnesses at the scene of the crime during the shooting. The prosecutor requested time to locate the witnesses before a grand jury hearing that was originally scheduled on July 27. 

Judge Judith Bartnoff postponed the indictment deadline by 21 days.

During a motions hearing on July 26, Young’s defense attorney, Madalyn Harvey, requested that the case be dismissed since there is no evidence the prosecution could elicit probable cause. Young was arraigned on the charge in 2017.

If the case would not be dismissed, Harvey requested that Judge Bartnoff release her client. “[Young] has been sitting in jail to the detriment of his health” for more than nine months, Harvey told Judge Bartnoff. 

Judge Bartnoff said a potential release for Young would be considered during a felony status conference scheduled on July 27.