Judges Hold 23 Percent of Defendants

By D.C. Witness Staff - January 19, 2021
Featured | Homicides | Suspects |

Between Nov. 16 and Nov. 30, DC Superior Court judges presided over a total of 281 cases during initial hearings, which is 13 percent more than the previous two weeks. 

Of the 281 cases, judges held 65 defendants at DC jail and released 216 defendants on pretrial supervision, parole or probation. Judges held just over 23 percent of all defendants during these hearings and released almost 77 percent. Compared to the first half of November, judges held about one percent more in the second half of November.

Judge Renee Raymond held 44 defendants and released 118. She held the highest percentage of defendants, nearly 37 percent compared to the two other judges who presided over initial hearings.

Judge McKenna held the lowest percentage of defendants, releasing 83 percent of all defendants and only holding around 17 percent. Judge McKenna heard 94 cases during the last two weeks of November. 

Judge Errol Arthur was the third judge to preside over initial hearings. He held 20 percent of defendants and released 80 percent. There is only a 3 percent decrease in his releases compared to Judge McKenna. 

Judge Arthur heard a total of 25 cases during this time period. 

General Statistics

There were 67 felony cases, 63 domestic violence cases, 95 misdemeanor cases, seven traffic cases, 36 fugitive cases and 32 bench warrant matters. The majority of cases heard were misdemeanors, which is almost 32 percent of all cases. 

At least 92 defendants were already on some sort of supervision, which includes pretrial, probation or parole. In the first half of the month, only 41 defendants were on supervision, a 124 percent increase in the second half of the month.

Only three percent of the defendants were on parole, while the majority, 64 percent, were on pretrial release.

For all the cases, there were a total of 62 violations mentioned by the parties, which occurred while defendants were on parole, probation or pretrial release. According to D.C. Witness data, this is a 77 percent increase within the past two weeks.

Some of the violations included failure to appear, stay-away violations, loss of contact, GPS tampering, while some were unspecified in court.

Domestic Violence Cases

Of the 63 domestic violence cases, 12 of the defendants were held, 50 were released and one was dismissed by the prosecution. 

Domestic violence charges included assault, violating Temporary Protection Orders (TPO) and Civil Protection Orders (CPO), threats to do bodily harm, weapon possession, destruction of property and contempt. The majority of the defendants were charged with simple assault, which consists of almost 51 percent of all domestic violence cases. 

Felony Cases

Charges in felony cases included weapons offenses, assault, drug possession and distribution, first-degree murder, sexual offense, robbery, burglary and armed carjacking.

The majority of the felony charges included weapons with drug possession or distribution as a close second.

For the defendants held on felony charges, the largest number of charges also included weapons offenses. Assault charges were the second most common offense for felony holds, and judges did not release any defendants who were charged with murder or armed carjacking during that time.

Additionally at least six of the defendants who were held on felony charges were on probation or pretrial supervision during the time they allegedly committed the new offenses. 

This report was written by Emily Pengelly, Caitlyn O’Neil and Krystin Roehl