Judge Releases 5 of 6 Domestic Violence Defendants During Initial Hearings

By D.C. Witness Staff - April 2, 2021
Featured | Homicides | Suspects |

During initial hearings on April 1, DC Superior Court Judge Heide Herrmann released five of the six domestic violence defendants.

A total of 30 defendants were presented in court.

The defendant held  is charged with destruction of property less than $1,000 in damages and attempted threats to do bodily harm. 

The prosecution alleged the defendant made threatening statements to the victims while holding a knife, saying, “I’m gonna kill y’all” and threw a cinder block through an apartment window. 

The defense said the defendant always carries his knife but was not threatening anyone with it since he never went into the apartment. Furthermore, based on the alleged statements and actions of the defendant, defense counsel said this appeared to be a mental health issue and jail was no place for the defendant.

The judge agreed with the defense that the defendant’s mental health needed to be addressed but did not think releasing him was the solution based on the gravity of the threats made. The judge said a person could have been hurt rather than a window.

The judge ruled to hold the defendant without bail.

A pretrial hearing is scheduled for April 20.

The remaining five defendants released had charges related to simple assault, attempted threats, destruction of property and probation violations for failing to appear at scheduled hearings. 

Of these defendants, four were released with stay away orders from the alleged victims and  one was additionally ordered to get a GPS monitor installed. 

Three of the five defendants were ordered to return to court on Oct. 7 for status hearings and the remaining two were respectively ordered to return to court on April 2 for a bond review hearing and April 6 for a bench warrant hearing.

This article was written by Alaina Provenza