Metro Weekly

Assault Charges Dropped

Second woman implicated in Manny & Olga's beating completes community service, terms of deferred sentencing agreement

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia on Tuesday agreed not to press charges against the second of two women implicated in the beating of Miles DeNiro, who performs in drag as Heidi Glüm, in a Manny & Olga’s restaurant last June after the suspect, Raymone Harding of Gaithersburg, complied with the terms of a deferred-sentencing agreement offered to both women in September.

Both women were required to plead guilty to the assault in exchange for having the charges and the guilty plea dropped if they complied with the terms of the deferred-sentencing agreement. The agreement required both women to stay away from DeNiro, submit to regular drug testing, and complete a community-service commitment. Such an agreement, also known as ”diversion,” provides a way for the government to avoid prosecuting first-time defendants who are considered unlikely to be repeat offenders.

The first defendant in the beating, Rachel Manna Sahle, complied with the terms of the agreement and saw the charge of simple assault against her dropped in March.

Harding was initially scheduled to appear in court for a diversion hearing to review her compliance with the sentencing agreement on April 1, but Superior Court Judge Juliet McKenna postponed that hearing in order to give Harding extra time to complete her community service commitment.

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