Judge Robert Morin set a trial date of June 10 for Gary Niles Montgomery, who is accused of murdering 23-year-old JaParker Deoni Jones.
Montgomery, 55, is suspected of stabbing and killing Jones in February.
Morin said he would decide at a status hearing Jan. 18 if Montgomery should be placed on supervised release prior to his trial or remain in DC Jail.
Montgomery’s defense attorney, Colle Latin, argued in a motion filed with the court that the government had not shown that Montgomery was a flight risk or posed a danger to society.
And a key piece of evidence against Montgomery, a fuzzy black-and-white surveillance video, does not clearly identify Montgomery, Latin said.
The video shows a man and Jones waiting at a bus stop in the 4900 block of East Capitol Street Northeast. After a few moments, the man follows Jones off-camera, and then back into the camera’s view, according to the charging documents.
The man then strikes Jones once in the head and picks up what detectives believe to be Jones’ purse.
Montgomery whispered quietly to himself throughout the hearing as both attorneys argued whether the video clearly identified him.
According to charging documents, detectives used a witness at the scene and two other witnesses who contacted police after seeing the video on local television. One recognized Montgomery because of an identifiable limp, according to the documents.
An autopsy showed Jones died from a single stab wound to the face that penetrated her skull.
Latin told the court Montgomery did not have a history of convictions for violent crimes and lived in the same neighborhood for more than 20 years.
Assistant U.S. Attorney David Gorman argued that Montgomery had failed to appear in court twice when he faced past criminal charges and was likely to do so again.
