WASHINGTON — The US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia has responded once again to claims made by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser that its office is not doing enough to prosecute local criminals.
On Monday, Mayor Bowser expressed her discontent with the USAO at a press conference and in a letter addressed to Michael Sherwin, the acting United States attorney for the District of Columbia.
Bowser’s letter said she was dismayed Sherwin’s office had declined to prosecute 41 of 42 rioting arrests made by the Metropolitan Police Department on Aug. 13-14 in Adams Morgan.
The mayor claimed MPD had submitted 63 affidavits in support of arrest and search warrants directly related to criminal activities at protests since May 30. She said 28 of the warrants had been declined by the USAO, while another 24 are still pending review from federal officials.
“This mirrors a disturbing pattern,” she wrote. “We have also identified in homicide cases, where our records reveal 18 warrants that are currently pending with your office awaiting action."
Mayor Bowser's statements regarding the USAO’s actions came after MPD made another 19 arrests at protests over the weekend in Northwest D.C.
“We are keenly aware of the difficulties in bringing successful criminal cases,” Bowser wrote in regard to the USAO. “However, we cannot let those difficulties prevent us from doing the hard work necessary to help ensure the safety of residents and visitors to our city.”
Sherwin first responded to Bowser with a statement Monday. He then wrote a longer letter in response to the mayor’s letter Tuesday.
“Your recent portrayal of the federal response to violence in the District as insufficiently vigorous seems to contrast sharply with your earlier criticism of the federal response in the District as overly aggressive,” Sherwin’s letter read.
Sherwin wrote that since the protests began in May, his office has worked with MPD to charge more than 120 criminal cases. He said it represents the most criminal cases charged by any United States Attorney’s Office in the country.
However, Sherwin’s letter claimed that on at least two occasions, MPD arrested more than a dozen people without enough evidence to support a criminal charge.
“In response to your criticism of how this office failed to ‘prosecute 41 of 42’ rioters on August 13-14, the answer is simple – MPD’s arresting documents lacked sufficient probable cause to support any criminal charge,” Sherwin wrote. “The '42 rioters’ were arrested as a collective by MPD and presented to the office without any articulable facts linking criminal conduct to each individual arrested.”
In that case, independent journalist Kian Kelley-Chung told WUSA9 he was arrested for felony rioting while shooting photos of the protest. He said his charges were dropped less than a day later.
"I just remember asking constantly, 'Why am I being arrested? Why am I being arrested?’" Kelley-Chung said.
Sherwin also said it was only able to hold the charges against one of the 19 people charged this last weekend because MPD failed to provide the bare minimum of "articulable" facts linking the charged persons with alleged individual criminal conduct.
“As I am sure you are aware, without some evidence to establish probable cause of a particular arrestee’s criminal conduct – e.g., a police officer’s observation or video footage of the alleged crime – we cannot bring federal charges,” Sherwin wrote. “Surely, by your comments, you are not suggesting that this office skirt constitutional protections and due process.”
WUSA9 reached out to both the mayor’s office and MPD to see if either office had a response to the USAO. It has yet to receive a comment from either office.
WUSA9 also interviewed Jeremy Vajko two days after he was arrested by MPD for driving a van recklessly during a protest at the corner of 16th and K streets Northwest. Vajko also claimed his arrest was unjustified.
“I was being incredibly slow and safe for everyone involved,” Vajko said.
While Vajko was arrested by MPD, reckless driving cases are handled in the District by DC Attorney General Karl Racine’s office, not the USAO.
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The attorney general’s office said it declined to prosecute Vajko after weighing several factors. In D.C., the charge for speeding and reckless driving is as follows:
“A person shall be guilty of reckless driving if the person drives a vehicle upon a highway carelessly and heedlessly in willful or wanton disregard for the rights or safety of others, or without due caution and circumspection and at a speed or in a manner so as to endanger or be likely to endanger a person or property.”
MPD released the following statement regarding Vajko’s case.
“The suspect was driving the van recklessly in an area restricted to vehicles, potentially placing hundreds of individuals at harm,” MPD’s statement read. “MPD stopped the vehicle in order to place the suspect under arrest.”
Sherwin also wrote to Mayor Bowser that the "Attorney General" plans to hold a working session with MPD and the USAO on Wednesday, and invited the mayor to attend. Right now, it is unclear which attorney general's office Sherwin is referring to, but Racine's spokesperson said it's not his office.