Thursday, April 25, 2013
Defendant Albrecht Muth's on-again, off-again hunger strike and resulting poor health are not reason enough to indefinitely delay trial, Judge opines.
D.C. Superior Court Judge Russell F. Canan wants to proceed to trial for the murder of Georgetowner, Viola Drath, with or without the physical presence of defendant Albrecht Muth. Muth is charged with first degree murder in the strangling death of his late wife, Drath, in her Georgetown home in August 2011. "The government has an unduly restrictive interpretation of the law," Canan told Assistant U.S. Attorney Glen Kirschner in court Thursday. Most recently, the prosecution asked that the trial not preceed as it was schedule to in March, citing issues surrounding the defendant's inability to come to court. The concern is that upon appeal any conviction might be overturned because of Rule 43 which allows a defendant to be physically present…
Thursday, December 20, 2012
The Georgetown murder suspect will represent himself before a jury at his March 25 trial.
Updated 1:30 p.m. Albrecht Muth will face a jury in March now that DC Superior Court Judge Russel F. Canan has found him competent to stand trial. Muth will represent himself. In announcing his finding, Canan said that Muth's actions within the justice system and during hospitalization at St. Elizabeths "speak louder than words" and are consistent with the history of manipulation presented by the prosecution during the past several days of the competency hearing. His history, said Canan, "outweighs" any examinations or tests that might suggest Muth is impaired. Muth, 48, was arraigned on the charge of first degree murder in the death of his wife Viola Drath, 91. Directly after being found competent, the court read Muth's arraignment, in …
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Attorneys on each side are preparing for a possible trial in the Albrecht Muth murder case.
A cease and desist email from the Iraqi embassy, Secret Service documents, bank statements, phone records and interview transcripts are among the items the prosecution and defense may be using to build their respective cases for the Albrecht Muth murder trial. Muth is indicted on the charge of first degree murder with aggravating circumstances in the death of his wife Viola Drath in her Georgetown home last August. At the Sept. 6 hearing, public defender Dana Page expressed frustration with the prosecution for only making "bits and pieces" of information available for their review. Since then, court documents show the prosecution has delivered and shared boxes and bags of evidence with defense attorneys and hosted the defense team in their…
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Judge Russell F. Canan agrees to prosecution's request to have its own experts evaluate Georgetown murder suspect Albrecht Muth.
Judge Russell F. Canan reviewed the findings of a medical team at St. Elizabeths mental hospital and granted the government's request to have its own experts evaluate Albrecht Muth before his trial, scheduled for October. Muth, charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife Viola Drath, was found to be not competent to stand trial in the most recent St. Elizabeths medical report. Though the report did indicate he could attain competency in time for trial. Drath, 91, was found dead in her home in August 2011; a medical examiner determined the cause of death was strangulation and blunt force trauma. A grand jury indicted Muth on the charge of first-degree murder in her death. Get daily and breaking news email updates from …
gary
12:39 am on Thursday, March 14, 2013
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