Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Albrecht Muth is charged with the strangling and beating death of his late wife, Viola Drath.
Georgetown murder defendant Albrecht Muth is eating consistently again and was recently discharged from United Medical Center and returned to D.C. jail, according to a May 1 email now in court records. Muth is charged with first-degree murder in the strangling death of his late wife, Viola Drath, in her Georgetown home in August 2011. Muth's trial for the murder of his late wife had been set to begin in March, but his on-again, off-again hunger strike rendered him incapable of standing, or even sitting up. Doctors told the court on several occasions that Muth was at "imminent risk of death." The court determined that Muth would be unable to appear in court, though on April 25, D.C. Superior Court Judge Russell F. Canan said he wanted to …
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Georgetown murder suspect continues to say his wife was killed by the Iranians, not him.
Albrecht Muth recently gave an interview to ABC's Martha Raddatz about the case against him in the murder of his late wife Viola Drath. Muth, whom a doctor recently said weighs a mere 104 pounds, is hospitalized because of an ongoing fast. Raddatz interviewed Muth from his hospital bed at D.C.'s United Medical Center. "I'm the convenient suspect," said Muth. But he maintained that his wife was killed by Iranian hit men, not by him. A trial was set to begin March 25, but was vacated because of Muth's poor health and inability to appear in court. Radditz asked Muth if he was killing himself by not eating. "I'm not killing myself. I'm opposed to kiling myself. I'm a Roman Catholic," he said. Muth has said his hunger strike is a religious fast…
Friday, March 22, 2013
The family of murder Georgetown woman, Viola Drath, released a statement Friday, several days after the trial for her murder was indefinitely delayed.
The family of Viola Drath, the Georgetown woman founded murdered in her home in August 2011, say they will wait "as long as it takes" for justice to be served. Tuesday a D.C. Superior court judge vacated a March 25 trial date for Drath's husband, Albrecht Muth, because of his poor health resulting from a hunger fast. No new trial date was set. The case was originally supposed to go to trial in October 2012. Members of the family have sat through the majority of court proceedings, but were not present in the court room Tuesday, when the trial was delayed. They have released very few public statements since Drath's murder. Here is the full statement from the family: “Our family is prepared and willing to wait as long as it takes for justice …
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Prosecution and defense unwilling to go to trial because of Georgetown murder defendant Albrecht Muth's precipitously declining health and inability to physically appear in court.
Albrecht Muth will not go to trial March 25—just as he predicted. Attorneys for the defense and the prosecution told D.C. Superior Court Judge Russell F. Canan that they were unwilling to proceed with the set trial date because the court ruled that Muth's frail health made him unable to come to court. "We should not proceed to trial under these circumstances," Assistant U.S. Attorney Glen Kirschner said in court Tuesday. Muth, a German native, was scheduled to go to trial for the murder of his late wife, Viola Drath, who was found beaten to death in her Georgetown home in August 2011. After he was found competent to stand trial in December, Muth declared to the court that there would be no trial. Shortly thereafter he re-instated what he …
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Albrecht Muth's trial, set for March 25, may be delayed.
DC Superior Court Judge Russell Canan Thursday told attorneys involved in the Viola Drath murder trial that he may consider defendant Albrecht Muth's ongoing fast as a voluntary waving of his right to physically appear in court on March 25. Muth's on-again, off-again fast, which he claims he is undergoing for religious reasons, has resulted in his very fragile physical status. His treating physician Dr. Russom Ghebrai said the mere act of moving Muth from a prone position to a seated position causes his heart rate to accelerate and dizziness. Ghebrai said he would not recommend moving Muth from the hospital to the courtroom. After detailing several legal precedents that explore somewhat similar issues to the legal questions involved in the…
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Albrecht Muth through his attorneys has requested a change of venue for his March 25 trial.
Albrecht Muth, a German-born man charged with the murder of his late wife in her Georgetown home, has requested a change of venue for his March 25 trial because of the "sensational pretrial publicity" surrounding his case. "Because of the amount of media coverage, there is no way Mr. Muth will receive a fair trial in the District of Columbia," a letter from Muth's attorneys states. His attorneys argue that the extensive coverage given to each update in the case would make it "next to impossible" to find a juror who has "not been influenced by these stories." His attorneys ask for a change of venue to find a jury that has not been "prejudiced" by media coverage. The trial is currently still set for March 25 in DC Superior Court, despite …
Thursday, March 7, 2013
The Georgetown murder defendant made what he called his last public statement in court via telephone from the hospital.
Georgetown murder defendant Albrecht Muth made a series of assertions about his fast, his religious convictions and his position as an Iraqi General, during a pretrial hearing Thursday. He told the court these would be his last statements in the public realm. "The curtain is coming down. I shall exit the stage quietly," Muth said as he ended a monologue over the phone from his hospital bed at United Medical Center. Muth will face a jury for the murder trial of his late wife, Viola Drath, who was murdered in her Georgetown home in August 2011. His ongoing fast has made him weak, necessitating his absence in court during the pretrial hearings. Though much of the proceedings were dominated with the defense and prosecution debating whether or …
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Prosecutors ask to include Muth's history of domestic violence against his wife as evidence in March 25 murder trial.
Prosecutors have asked the court to allow them to present evidence of Albrecht Muth's previous charges as evidence in his March 25 trial for first degree murder. Muth is accused of killing his wife Viola Drath, who was beaten to death in her Georgetown home in August 2011. Muth had a history of domestic violence complaints filed against him by his late wife, as Patch previously reported. The prosecution's latest submission to the court details those incidents and how they might be used in the upcoming trial. Prosecutors write that Muth's violent behavior toward his wife should be admissible to show his "motive, intent, identity, absence of mistake or accident, and consciousness of guilt," according to court documents. Read: Charging …
Thursday, February 21, 2013
The court determined that the Georgetown murder suspect cannot proceed pro se under the current circumstances.
DC Superior Court Judge Russell F. Canan determined that public defenders should remain the attorneys of record for Georgetown murder suspect Albrecht Muth. A doctor described Muth as being in "imminent risk of sudden death" due to an ongoing fast. Muth is scheduled to face a jury March 25 for the murder of his late wife Viola Drath, who was found strangled and beaten in their Georgetown home in August 2011. In December, the court found Muth competent to stand trial and agreed that he could represent himself. Dr. Russom Ghebrai, who is treating Muth at United Medical Center, told the court Thursday that Muth's fast had rendered him nothing more than "skin and bones." When asked by Assistant U.S. Attorney Glenn Kirschner whether Muth faced…
Monday, February 4, 2013
A hunger strike has landed Georgetown murder suspect Albrecht Muth in a local hospital, The Washington Post reports.
Albrecht Muth, the Georgetown man set to go to trial in March for the 2011 strangling death of his wife Viola Drath, is reportedly in the hospital in critical condition because of a hunger strike, The Washington Post reports. Muth, 48, who was found competent in December to stand trial for his wife's death, has been hospitalized because of his hunger strikes in the past. He was arraigned in December on the charge of first degree murder in the death of his wife Viola Drath, 91. He fired his public defender attorneys at that time and told the court he planned to represent himself at his March 25 trial. On Friday, the Washington Post reported that someone who sounded like Muth left a message on a reporter's voice mail stating, "Death is …
Dee Shepherd
2:26 pm on Saturday, March 23, 2013
It's a tragic story all the way around. Albrecht Muth is most likely going to die. I'm sorry for Ms. Drath's family and wish them peace of mind. more ›