WASHINGTON — The defense lawyers representing a woman accused of a carjacking crash earlier this month have requested that their client be released from D.C. jail over allegations of "atrocious and inhumane treatment."
Kayla Brown, from Southeast D.C., appeared in D.C. Superior Court Thursday afternoon for a mental health hearing. During the proceedings it was revealed that Brown has received a diagnosis and is on medication. However, Judge Heidi M. Pasichow decided that the details of the mental health evaluation will be sealed to the public.
Initial court documents indicate that Brown's parents told investigators that their daughter had received drugs from a man she had met on Instagram and that she had been acting erratic for three days prior to the alleged carjacking.
During the hearing, the judge said that the medical expert who conducted Brown's mental health evaluation recommended that the 22-year-old remain in custody of the D.C. Department of Corrections (DOC).
Brown's defense requested that their client be released from the D.C. jail to a locked facility at St. Elizabeth's Hospital. Her lawyers claim she has been assaulted by DOC staff and deprived of showering and water. They also allege that she has been unjustifiably placed in a secure cell.
DOC has not responded to WUSA9's requests for comment about the allegations made by Brown's lawyer.
Following a heated exchange between the defense and Judge Pasichow, it was determined that the issue of where Brown will remain in custody will be determined during a June 17 hearing.
Court documents indicate that on Jun. 3 Brown was transported to Washington Hospital Center by ambulance. Investigators say she escaped from the medical facility in a White Mazda that was at the entrance of the hospital. The passenger of the vehicle, Leslie Marie Gaines, 55, was still inside the car.
Gaines' daughter had taken her mother to the hospital after experiencing blurred vision and loss of feeling in her legs according to court documents. Investigators say Gaines' daughter left her mother inside the running car while she got a wheelchair.
Less than 20 minutes after the alleged carjacking, police say Brown crashed the car into the building that houses the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia's offices in Northwest D.C.
Brown was arrested as she fled from the crash scene and Gaines was pronounced dead.
Gaines' cause of death has yet to be disclosed pending the medical examiner's report.
Police arrested and charged Brown with felony murder, kidnapping, and carjacking, but the U.S. Attorney's Office only filed an unarmed carjacking charge. Any additional charges will be determined by the ongoing investigation according to prosecutors.