Murder Defendant Held Since Dec. 2016 Scheduled for Jury Trial in 2023

By D.C. Witness Staff - April 28, 2021
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

A DC Superior Court judge scheduled a murder defendant who has been held at DC Jail since his arrest in December 2016 to go before a jury in July 2023.

Clinton Womack is charged with first-degree murder while armed in the shooting of 45-year-old Terry Crutchfield on the 1500 block of Olive Street, NE, on Dec. 6, 2016. 

Womack, 31, has previously been scheduled to go before a jury once in 2018, twice in 2019 and once in 2020. These trial dates have fallen though due to matters including evidence and investigation issues raised by the defense in 2018 and the appointment of new defense counsel in 2019.

By the time Womack reaches the jury trial dates Judge Michael Ryan set , he will have been in jail for more than six years.

Defense attorney Steven Kiersh said he has not made a final decision on if he’d be calling witnesses. 

“Primarily, I agree that the issue is a legal issue, not a factual issue,” Kiersh said.  “We don’t want to do anything to delay the resolution of the case.”

The prosecution said they expect to call witnesses including a medical examiner, DNA experts, phone experts and at least two to three Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers. 

Judge Ryan set dates from July 5 through July 28, 2023, for the jury selection and trial. 

Womack is also charged with first-degree armed burglary, possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, armed robbery, attempted armed robbery, armed kidnapping  and unlawful possession of a firearm with a prior conviction in this case. 

Brennan Fiske wrote this article.