Even though a jury voted by seven-to-five to acquit George Sutton, 46, of murder-related charges, DC Superior Court Judge Rainey Brandt ruled he needs to stay in jail, at least for now.
The judge said she wants to see a more targeted plan before releasing Sutton. Initially, during the Dec. 18 bond review hearing, Judge Brandt seemed inclined to let Sutton go after she declared a mistrial following a hung jury on Dec. 15.
“In the court’s mind, the evidence is a 50-50 circumstantial case. There’s room in that evidence for reasonable doubt,” said Judge Brandt. “The jury spoke,”continued the judge, “and that has weight.” Further, “He [Sutton] is cloaked in the presumption of innocence.”…