Prince William judge dismisses murder case

A case against a murder suspect was dismissed by Prince William County Circuit Court Judge Carol A. Weimer Jr. on August 4.

On October 21, 2019, 21-year-old Nathaniel Isiah Hickson was found suffering a gunshot wound in the 2300 block of Briar Rose Lane in Lake Ridge. The victim was taken to a hospital, where he later died.

Police charged Najoun Courtney and Tre Rose with murder. Police said Hickson was shot during a drug deal, and the two suspects fled the scene.

In November 2021, Rose pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, conspiracy to commit robbery, and agreed to testify in an unrelated murder case, in addition to testifying against Courtney.

On August 4, the prosecutors could not prove to the judge that a felony drug transaction had occurred. Afterward, Courtney’s attorneys, William Warrier and Ben Talley of the Prince William County Public Defender’s Office, asked the judge to dismiss the case.

“The Public Defender conducted our own investigation of these allegations and concluded that the commonwealth’s collection of evidence, and its conclusions about the evidence gathered, were fatally flawed and suffered confirmation bias,” said Prince William County Public Defender Office Director Tracy Lenox in a statement to Potomac Local News.

Prince Willliam County Commonwealth Attorney Amy Ashworth said the office took the case very seriously and presented 26 witnesses and 130 pieces of evidence, seeking a 2nd-degree murder conviction. When the judge struck the robbery charge, prosecutors asked the judge to amend the charge to 1st-degree murder, but Weimer declined and dismissed the case.

“If this case had been sent to a jury, we believe we would have secured a conviction,” said Ashworth. “While we respect the judge’s decision, we strongly believe that the evidence was sufficient to prove the robbery charge, which was the predicate offense for the felony murder charge, and are disappointed by the outcome.”

Courtney was incarcerated on the 2nd-degree murder charge from his arrest on November 12, 2019, until the commonwealth decided not to prosecute on November 19, 2021, said Lenox. However, prosecutors handed down a direct indictment of Courtney on March 8, 2022, and he was again held on these charges until the time of trial last week.

In between those times, he was held continuously on other charges in Spotsylvania County, for which he served a significant sentence, said Lenox.