A D.C. Superior Court judge held the Department of Human Services in civil contempt on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, and began imposing a $100-a-day fine over the agency’s response to a subpoena for surveillance footage in a stabbing case at a Southeast D.C. homeless shelter. Judge Carmen McLean said the unresolved footage issue was delaying the criminal prosecution.
Andre Townsend, 49, is charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and aggravated assault over the alleged non-fatal stabbing of another resident at East Men's Shelter in March, according to DC Witness. The victim suffered a stab wound to the right side of the neck, the outlet reported.
Prosecutors subpoenaed the footage in April and made repeated efforts to obtain it, DC Witness reported. DHS initially provided no video. After the court issued a show-cause order, the agency produced more than 200 gigabytes of footage but did not identify the file relevant to the case, according to the outlet.
The footage remains difficult to assess
Prosecutors had to review the files themselves and send relevant videos to the defense. The footage they identified included a camera recording of a dark room with several people, as well as a gap during the time period central to the case, DC Witness reported.
At a subsequent court appearance, DHS sent an employee and a technician, rather than an attorney. Neither had watched the footage in question. The technician said the cameras were motion-activated but could not explain the recording gap or identify the relevant file, according to the outlet.
Judge sets a deadline for answers
McLean sought an explanation for DHS’s handling of the subpoena and its failure to appear at the first show-cause hearing. She set a shorter return date and warned that the fine would increase if the agency did not comply by the next hearing, DC Witness reported.
The daily fines will continue until DHS clarifies the problem, the defense is satisfied, or the next court date arrives, according to the outlet. Separately, prosecutors extended an improved global plea offer to Townsend after it took time to secure approval; they sent it Monday and did not object to giving him more time to consider it.
What a prior shelter audit found
The D.C. Office of the Inspector General said in October 2022 that it planned an audit of the District’s Homeward DC plan and emergency shelter management, including whether newly built shelters increased the availability, equity and safety of homeless services. The OIG audit report found that the Interagency Council on Homelessness did not provide its required annual updates to the Mayor.
The parties are scheduled to return on Dec. 7 to address the footage dispute and the status of plea negotiations.
