Judge says there is 'no probable cause' in Washington DC prison stabbing

By Hope Hamerslough, Lily Engel – June 11, 2024
Daily Stories |

D.C. Superior Court Judge Renee Raymond ruled that the prosecution failed to prove that a defendant was the perpetrator of a stabbing attack in a D.C. jail during a June 11 hearing .

Jadohn Bracey, 24, was charged with aggravated assault while knowingly armed for his alleged involvement in an April 5 stabbing at the D.C. jail in the 1900 block of D Street, SE . The incident left one person suffering from 12 stab wounds.

Before the hearing, the prosecution offered Bracey a deal, which required him to plead guilty to aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon, in exchange for the prosecution not seeking an indictment.

The plea deal was rejected by Bracey.

The prosecution called the lead detective from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) to testify about prison surveillance footage showing Bracey walking down the stairs to the showers and the victim following behind him. The victim waits outside the showers for the accused to come out. When Bracey comes out, an altercation breaks out between the two.

It was then that the victim was stabbed 12 times by the accused, according to the detective. The individual identified as Bracey then fled the altercation and the complainant ran after him.

Preston Smith and Nathaniel Mensah, Bracey's defense attorneys, argued the video did not show the whole story and questioned the witness about an earlier altercation that occurred between Bracey and the victim.

According to Smith, 15 to 20 minutes before the video altercation, Bracey was in a cell that was not his where the victim struck the defendant in the head with an unidentified sharp object.

After that confrontation, Smith said, Bracey washed his cut before going down the stairs to the shower — which is corroborated by surveillance footage.

Smith argued that because the plaintiff then followed Bracey to the shower area and blocked the only exit, Bracey used the force necessary to defend himself when he stabbed the victim.

However, the prosecution argued that the accused could not have acted in self-defense because of the time between the altercations, which they considered a “cooling off period.”

They also argued that there was no way of knowing whether words were exchanged between the accused and the victim near the shower area.

As for the self-defense claim, the prosecution insisted that 12 stab wounds demonstrated the use of unnecessary force that went beyond self-defense, saying Bracey was not in danger imminent or facing serious bodily injury.

According to the prosecution, a third individual handed the knife to Bracey while he was in the middle of a physical altercation with the victim. They insisted there was no evidence the victim was armed during the fight, despite claims she cut the defendant earlier.

Following arguments from the parties, Judge Raymond said she could not find probable cause “at this early stage” that Bracey was the perpetrator of the crime and did not act in self-defense.

Due to this decision, the case was closed. However, prosecutors can reopen the case through an indictment.

No other date has been set.

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