When Latorya Lisenby went to D.C. Superior Court in August for the preliminary hearing of man accused of killing Mikey Ledbetter, her friend and former romantic interest, she sought peace.
But when the judge in the case didn’t find probable cause and the case was dismissed without charges being pressed, her relief turned to frustration.
“What do you mean it’s dismissed, you mean you aren’t going to charge him with anything?” Lisenby remembers thinking.
Among the 81 cases closed by Metropolitan Police Department detectives in 2013, eight, including Ledbetter’s, were dismissed without prosecution.
Murder cases are closed a variety of ways each year, and the majority of cases do proceed to trial or plea out. But for the families of the minority cases— the ones closed because a judge ruled that there wasn’t enough evidence, the US Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute an arrest by MPD, a suspect died before arrest, or a case was ruled self-defense— a legal case closure does note necessarily mean emotional closure, particularly when an arrest simply opens more questions.
For friends and family of Gregory Darnell Troxler, the dismissal of a suspect in connection with his death has caused confusion, even anger.
Troxler was found dead October 10, 2012 in the 1100 block of 8th Street Northeast. He had been shot five times in his head, chest, buttocks and forearm. A suspect was arrested nine days later. After the man had been held for four months prosecutors asked Judge Ronna Beck to dismiss the second-degree murder charge and release him.
In the months after the suspect’s dismissal, commenters on Homicide Watch D.C. persistently wonder about the status of the case.
On October 13, one commenter wrote “Hello yes I’m on here everyday what’s the up date on Gregory Troxler case detectives I can’t believe it’s bern a year already in nothing he deserves to be at peace R.I.P.CHICKY CHICK.”
Daniel Swartz, Troxler’s neighbor, was another of those commenters. Swartz remembers when his friendly next-door neighbor, known as “Chick”, used to hang outside with his friends.
Swartz said he wants more information from MPD and some sort of disclosure as to why the case isn’t going forward.
“I mean, if you go to their website and search for information on the case, it tells you the case was closed by an arrest. It didn’t have any information about the guy being released or anything, it just says “closed by arrest”, which kinda gives the public the perception that it’s no longer being investigated.” Schwartz says.
Matthew Jones, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, said no case is dismissed without a thorough review that includes the trial assistant assigned to the case, the deputy supervisor assigned to the case, and a review from the homicide team. Jones also noted that there is no statute of limitations in homicide cases, so a dismissal may simply give prosecutors additional time to investigate a case and then prepare to prosecute.
Mikey Ledbetter’s younger sister Nekol Ledbetter feels that the dismissal of a suspect pushes her farther away from the full story of his death. She wants the true, full story of what happened to her brother and worries that her brothers’ case might end up unsolved.
“There’s so many murders out here, so I’m not trying to say that they’re trying to put his on the back burner or anything like that. I know they have a job to follow up with the other ones. I just don’t want his to go cold.” she said.
According to MPD, homicide cases are generally investigated by the original case detective for up to three years before they are transferred to the Major Case/Cold Case Unit. But that’s not “a hard and fast rule”; if the detective on the case has actives leads, he or she may choose to exhaust those leads before transferring the case.
Elizabeth Lippy, Assistant Director of the Trial Advocacy Program at American University Washington College of Law, says that in her experience working with prosecutors, “closed by arrest” does not mean that the investigation is done by any means.
“[W]hat I can tell you is that most people who are charged with any kind of crime, have a police record even if the case is dismissed against somebody,” she explained. “Typically, you have to go through a formal expungement process and actually have your name cleared. So even though the case may be dismissed against somebody, police records are still going to show that somebody was arrested for it.”
Ledbetter hopes another suspect will be arrested and she’s promised herself that she’ll be at every court date if it happens.
Ledbetter says she can’t get mad if detectives don’t find anything though.
“I’m not in their line of profession. I can’t do what they do,” she said.
