Murder Defendant Rejects Plea Deal

By D.C. Witness Staff - March 4, 2020
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Suspects | Victims |

During a preliminary hearing on March. 4, a murder defendant rejected a plea deal, and the parties discussed the relevance of a peice of the discovery. 

Clinton Womack, 27, is charged with first-degree murder while armed, possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, and burglary while armed for allegedly shooting Terry Crutchfield, 45, on Dec. 6, 2016, on the 1500 block of Olive St., NE. 

The parties told DC Superior Court Judge Todd E. Edelman that Womack had been offered a plea deal second-degree murder. According to the terms of the deal, Womack could be sentenced to 14 years in prison.  

Womack rejected the plea deal.  

The prosecutor told Judge Edelman that he was still in the process of retesting ballistic evidence. He said he would send the results to the defense as soon as he received them.

The prosecutor also said he may need to ask for a later trial in order to have all his arguments and ballistic reports ready. 

The prosecutor said he was only testing one casing because it was the only piece of evidence the crime scene.

There is no biological evidence in the case. 

The prosecutor also said a gun, which he believed was Womack’s, would also be introduced into evidence. Apparently the gun was found in the defendant’s brother’s vehicle in South Carolina. 

However, Womack’s attorney, Steven R Kiersh, told the Judge Edelman that it made no sense to bring the gun into evidence because there were too many dissimilarities between the gun and the casing from the scene. Kiersh said the gun didn’t match the casing.

Kiersh also said there was nothing linking the gun to Womack because it was found in another state after the defendant was arrested.

Judge Edelman told the prosecution that while he understands there are issues with the ballistics testing, he did not understand the relevance of the gun.

Womack is scheduled for a motions hearing on April. 1. 

This article was written by Lea Gianasso.