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By
Graham Krewinghaus [former]
- October 24, 2022
Court
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Daily Stories
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Sex Abuse
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Sexual Assault
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Suspects
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Victims
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A sex abuse defendant’s conditions of release were modified after the results of a DNA test corroborated his defense during an Oct. 24 hearing,
The 39-year-old defendant, was charged on May 16 with first-degree sex abuse and first-degree burglary in connection with an April 28 incident on the 1400 block of R Street, NW.
According to court documents, the defendant knocked on the complainant’s door, and as soon as she let him in, he grabbed her by the neck and forced her into the bedroom. He then forced her to bend over and penetrated her anus, she told police.
At the Monday hearing, defense attorney Todd Baldwin said that anal swabs detected no presence of male DNA following the incident. He said the result would “exclude my client from possibility.”
The prosecutor disagreed with this characterization, saying no presence of male DNA did not definitively mean no assault occurred. She also noted that the defendant’s DNA was found on the complainant’s neck, consistent with her report that he choked her.
Based on the results of the DNA test, Baldwin moved to have the defendant’s ankle monitor removed.
“He’s been completely compliant with his conditions,” Baldwin said, noting that the defendant was set to start tomorrow as the head chef at a new restaurant and didn’t want to be seen with an ankle monitor.
DC Superior Court Judge Milton Lee asked about the restaurant and the defendant provided details. It has a seven-course tasting menu, he said, and it is French.
“All right, all right,” Judge Lee said. “You don’t have to sell me on the restaurant.”
Judge Lee ordered the defendant’s ankle monitor be removed. The defendant will continue to have stay-away orders from the complainant and the scene of the crime and must check in with authorities via a phone call weekly.
The parties are scheduled to return to court on Nov. 28.