FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — In Fairfax County, a judge has thrown out charges against a 22-year-old man accused of shooting another man to death in the parking lot of an Alexandria apartment complex.
Prosecutors say they were unable to get a key witness in to testify against Francisco Juares in the murder of 21-year-old D’Mari Norris.
Fairfax County Police allege that they caught Juares red-handed in a Hybla Valley parking lot on Aug. 30, 2022, thanks to the actions of a Good Samaritan. Police said the witness tackled Juares and held him down until police got to the scene. He was arrested and charged with second degree murder and the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
Authorities believe Juares had some kind of argument with Norris and shot him repeatedly.
But now Fairfax District Court Judge Vanessa Jordan has tossed out the charges against Juares. It’s not clear from the court record exactly why the decision was made.
Laura Birnbaum, a spokeswoman for Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano, said prosecutors knew this was coming, and that they’d warned the victim’s family to expect the charges would be dismissed.
"Prosecutors had made the family aware that this outcome was a distinct possibility prior to the hearing because we are still awaiting forensic analyses from the scene," Birnbaum wrote in an email to WUSA9. "These are essential to the case because the lone person to whom the defendant made statements is currently deployed overseas and could not appear in court."
Birnbaum said prosecutors do not have international subpoena power in general district court. She insists it changes very little.
“The judge’s decision yesterday not to bind over the charges against Francisco Juares doesn’t end the case or alter the status quo," she wrote. "The court had already released Juares on bond, and we plan to move forward with this case by direct indicting the charges in Circuit Court next month."
Court records show a judge released Juares from jail on his own recognizance right after his arrest.
Birnbaum said the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office plans to take the murder case to a grand jury and indict him sometime in March. The murder charges would then be tried in circuit court, which is the standard procedure.
Critics of Descano, a progressive prosecutor, have been keeping a sharp eye on everything going on at the courthouse. They believe this adds to a growing number of strikes against him. Descano declined to comment on the case "while it's still ongoing," according to Birnbaum.