Judges Release 43 percent of Cases Heard

By D.C. Witness Staff - April 20, 2020
Court | Featured | Homicides |

Judges presided over 84 defendants’ cases at the DC Superior Courthouse between April 9 and April 17. Of the cases, only 43 percent of the defendants were released.

DC Superior Court Judges Neal Kravitz Anita Josey-Herring, Rainey Brandt, Michael Ryan, John Campbell , Lynn Leibovitz and Juliet McKenna presided over all the cases. Most the cases heard were also felony defendants or defendants charged with both felonies and misdemeanors.

Judge Anita Josey-Herring has heard the most cases in this time span with 38. Judge Herring has released 17 defendants.

JudgeNeal Kravitz has heard 20 cases since April 9. He released three defendants.

Judge Michael Ryan has heard 9 cases since April 9, releasing five of nine of the defendant’s to St. Elizabeth’s psychiatric hospital.

Judge Rainey Brandt has mainly only presided over fugitive from justice extradition hearings. She has heard 13 cases since April 9, releasing nine defendants.. She has also issued two bench orders in those matters.

Judge Juliet McKenna has heard two cases since April 9. She released one defendant on April 10 and delayed the presentment of Kenyatta Williams, who is charged with burglary, until he is released from the hospital. Williams is scheduled for a presentment on April 20.

Judge John Campbell heard one case where he re-sentenced murder defendant Darrick Evans, who was initially sentenced to 40 years in prison for murdering a 14-year-old boy who was picking up his cousin. The boy was not the intended target. The re-sentencing was granted under policy that says that convicts who we charged as youth and have spent more than 20 years in prison could have their sentences modified.

Judge Lynn Leibovitz has only heard one case where she decided to keep a man charged with sexual abuse of a minor on probation after he requested to have his probation revoked.

Sixty-five percent of the cases were in regards to defendants with felonies or defendants charged with both felonies and misdemeanors. Seventeen percent of the cases were for defendant’s charged with misdemeanors. Fifteen percent of the cases were of people charged with being a fugitive from justice.