Judge finds probable cause and orders detention in stabbing case

By Jenna Lee
– October 9, 2024
court | Daily Stories | piercing | Suspicious | Victim |

On October 8, D.C. Supreme Court Judge Heidi Herrmann found probable cause during the preliminary hearing of a defendant who committed a knife attack.

Ethan Cunningham, 20, is charged with assault with a dangerous weapon for his alleged involvement in a knife attack that occurred July 10 at the Central Treatment Facility (CTF) in the 1900 block of E Street, SE. One person was stabbed and suffered injuries to the neck and lower back.

The incident occurred when Cunningham was arrested and charged with three counts of murder with an armed weapon, burglary with an armed weapon, seven counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, kidnapping while armed, attempted robbery with an armed weapon and assault with intent to kill while armed and with an unlicensed handgun for his alleged involvement in the death of 38-year-old James Curtis on May 10, 2022 in the 2600 block of Stanton Road, SE.

Prosecutors called as a witness a DC Department of Corrections (DOC) investigator who testified that his supervisors informed him of a July 10 altercation between two CTF inmates.

The witness said he later viewed surveillance footage of the incident and prosecutors played the footage in the courtroom. The footage showed a person, later identified as Cunningham, running up a flight of stairs and appearing to make stabbing movements at another person who fell to the ground. The suspect was subsequently arrested at the scene by two officers.

The witness stated that no weapon was found at the scene, but the victim was taken to a local hospital for stab wounds to the neck and back.

The witness also testified that a Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) lieutenant later told him that the suspect had been identified as Cunningham by the officers who arrested him.

Thomas Healy, Cunningham’s attorney, asked the court not to establish probable cause because no weapon was found and therefore there was no way to determine whether the victim was actually stabbed. Healey also said there was no way of knowing the suspect in the video was Cunningham.

Judge Herrmann ruled that the video shows the suspect making stabbing movements, and since the victim suffered stab wounds, there is probable cause that he was stabbed. She ordered the defendant to post $100 bail.

The parties will meet again on October 29th.