Jewell Washington will not be prosecuted for the murder of her half-brother, Mark Goldring, in Northeast DC.
Washington was arrested on Oct. 11, 2011, the same day Goldring was fatally stabbed in his father’s home. At a preliminary hearing in December, Judge Gerald Fisher found “substantial probability” that Washington committed the crime.
MPD Homicide Detective Douglas Carlson testified at the preliminary hearing that before Goldring was stabbed, Washington had argued with his wife about some bedding she wanted to pick up from her father’s house, where her half-brother and his family also lived.
The wife called Goldring during the argument, warning him that if he did not come home right then, she was going to “F*** [Washington] up,” Carlson said.
Washington told authorities later that same day that Goldring had punched her and that after he punched her she stabbed him. When interviewed by officers, her shirt, pants, legs and shoes were covered in blood, Carlson said.
From her first appearance at DC Superior Court, she has argued a claim of self defense. At the preliminary hearing Washington’s sister, who is also her adoptive mother, said Goldring had assaulted and/or threatened family members other than Washington, including Washington’s father and another sister.
Now the U.S. Attorney’s Office is dismissing the charge.
USAO Spokesman William Miller said that there is “insufficient evidence to go forward with the prosecution.”
Washington’s attorney, Wendell Robinson, confirmed the dismissal Wednesday evening. He said formal paperwork is expected to be completed in the case Friday.
Washington has been on supervised release since December.
Goldring’s family opposes the dismissal.
“We’re frustrated that the justice system has failed us,” Emerson Goldring, Mark Goldring’s brother, said. “They have all the evidence. She admitted to murder; they have her confession. They have the murder weapon. And they have my brother, who is dead. We would like to see her go to trial, to be judged by her peers, to see justice being served.”
