Photo by PoPville flickr user Victoria Pickering

“Dear PoPville,

I was summoned to Grand Jury back in December which was to begin in February. I deferred it to May since it’s for a month. Then yesterday I was summoned for Petit Jury in February for 2 weeks. I mean come on, what are the odds of both Grand and Petit Jury in one year let alone within a month between summons?

Luckily if I’m picked for Petit Jury, I can be excused for Grand Jury! But had to share this crazy situation!”

Ed. Note: You can see the poll results for the last time you were called for jury duty here.

Photo by PoPville flickr user UknelijahDC

I got called for Jury Duty, again. Now I get called every two years after seemingly rarely getting called. I even got called to a grand jury this year though fortunately, since I work for myself it would be rough to do, I didn’t have to serve on the actual jury. Anyway, now that I’ve figured out how to insert polls into posts again – I’d like to revisit the Jury Duty question. When’s the last time you were called to jury duty? Did you serve on a jury? How long did your jury duty last? Did you convict or acquit?

1350 Pennsylvania Ave, NW

ANC6B10 Commissioner Denise Krepp is a resident of Hill East. PoP-Ed. posts may be written about anything related to the District and submitted via email to princeofpetworth(at)gmail please include PoP-Ed. in the subject line.

Ed. Note: The Post also published an editorial on this subject, ‘D.C. has gone too far on criminal-justice reform’

“DC Council and Violent Crime

Over the weekend, The Washington Post published an article about legislation under review by the DC Council that enables individuals convicted of rape and murder to be released early from prison. Instead of helping rapists, DC Councilmembers should be asking why the Department of Justice isn’t prosecuting rapes occurring in Washington, DC; why millions of DC tax dollars are being spent on sexual harassment settlements; and why DC agency employees who commit sexual harassment are still employed.

Currently, DC law enables judges to reduce prison sentences for crimes committed by individuals under the age of 18. There are no disqualifying crimes. The law simply states that the individual must served 20 years in prison.

Until recently, judges reviewing petitions for early release were required to consider the nature of the crimes committed. The DC Council removed that requirement from the law in January 2019.

Now, the DC Council wants to expand the early release policy to individuals who committed crimes under the age of 25. And again, there is no limitation on crimes. An individual can commit rape and receive early release if that individual was under the age of 25 when the crime occured. Read More

Photo by PoPville flickr user Erin

From an email:

“The DC Superior Court wants to update the public on an oversight that resulted in jury summonses for the week of January 29 and February 5 not being mailed in a timely way. The Court has taken steps to prevent any recurrence. More importantly, the Court reports that not one trial was delayed due to an unavailability of jurors.

“We appreciate everyone who serves jury duty throughout the year, but I want to especially thank those who served the past two weeks on such short notice,” said DC Superior Court Chief Judge Robert E. Morin. Read More

via DC Bar

“Dear PoPville,

As a longtime DC resident, I’m constantly looking for ways to make the City a better place, and one easy way to do so is to voice my opinion when it matters.

One such opportunity is to chime in during appointments and promotions of D.C Superior Court Judges, the ones whose actions have a great impact on the quality of life for D.C’s residents.

Three of the Superior Court Judges are currently being proposed for Senior Judgeship and the public are encouraged to comment before September 29.

I personally had the misfortune of being the victim of a violent crime, only to realize that the perpetrator was a career felon who was given a minimal sentence by one of these 3 judges, not just in my case last year, but once before, by the same judge, almost 2 decades ago. I believe elevating these kind of judges not only condones this kind of behavior, but encourages it.

I did make my voice heard to the Office in charge of hearing the comments, and hope that other readers of PoPville would take the time to do so, in case they have an opinion one way or another, on any of the 3 judges.”

The D.C. Commission on Judicial Disabilities and Tenure is reviewing the qualifications and fitness of the following D.C. Superior Court Judges: Read More