Judge Rules on Evidence Distribution in 2013 Homicide Case

By D.C. Witness Staff - June 11, 2018
Court | Homicides | Suspects |

A presiding judge in a 2013 homicide case gave defense counsel extra time to review evidence before handing it over to expert witnesses for review.

The defendant, Stefon Kirkpatrick, is charged with second-degree murder while armed for allegedly stabbing his girlfriend, Julisa Washington, in 2013. According to court documents, Washington, 22, was found face down in a pool of blood in an alleyway on the 400 block of  Chesapeake Street, SE. Apparently, the cause of death was a stab wound to the neck.

Defense counsel argued that if the prosecution was allowed to distribute the case’s evidence to all parties at the same time, the defense’s expert witness at Saint Elizabeths Hospital, DC’s psychiatric hospital, could be flipped. According to court records, Kirkpatrick told police, on the scene of the crime, that he committed the murder. 

DC Superior Court Judge Ronna L. Beck ordered the prosecution to give the evidence to defense counsel by June 15. Beck granted the defense two weeks to review the evidence, after which counsel would be required to disclose all evidence to expert witnesses.

Kirkpatrick is scheduled for a status hearing on June 28.