Surveillance video shows the moment a man opened fire at a Herndon bar packed with more than 100 people on a busy Saturday night in November 2021. The bullet went through the window and people inside sheltered for safety. Miraculously, no one was hurt or killed in the Nov. 6 shooting around 10 p.m. in the 700 block of Elden Street.
The alleged gunman, later identified as De’Quinn Le’Charn Hall, was charged with multiple felonies.
But in December 2022, Sully's Pour House owner Jenna Kuhn said she learned Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Steve Descano’s office discussed a plea deal with the alleged gunman that would have dropped felony charges to a misdemeanor after good behavior.
Kuhn spoke to the press in December 2022 about her concerns about the plea agreement.
“I need to speak for all the residents of my community. I need them to know that you can walk within our community, go to our restaurant, go to our downtown shops, and be safe, but without prosecuting, they are not,” Kuhn told 7News.
Descano spoke with the bar owner in December after she decided to speak to the press about the alleged plea deal and Descano promised her he would retract the plea deal.
Audio obtained by 7News shows Descano promising the bar owner in December there would be felony charges against the reported gunman.
“When you fire off rounds into a crowded place that puts community safety in danger, people who do that, the proper safety response is for them to face incarceration, face felony charges. And that's what we're going to go to. That's what we're going to end up,” Descano told the bar owner in December after she spoke to the press about her concerns about the plea agreement. “We never presented any plea offer to court and never accepted. We're planning to move forward with felony charges. And that's how we intend to proceed with the case.”
Commonwealth’s Attorneys’ offices are able to discuss plea agreements with defendants before the plea is presented and accepted in court.
This week, the court schedule said the plea agreement was going to be heard in court on Thursday, March 23, 2023, which alarmed Kuhn, because it contradicts what Descano told her in December.
“I am a first-generation American, Arab Muslim, that is attempting to live the American dream of becoming a small business owner,” said Kuhn. “Everything I do, I do for my children, and being swept under the rug is probably the most embarrassing thing when I speak about our justice system. There are no words to actually tell someone how I truly feel about this situation. I don't think he's taking it seriously. I don't think Descano is taking it seriously at all.”
7News spoke exclusively to the Herndon business owner who said Descano hasn’t communicated with her at all as he promised to in December 2022 after she first shared her story publicly.
“I've been to court numerous times,” said Kuhn. “And every single time I've been to court, it wasn't because Steve Descano’s office reached out to me, not a single time. I've had to reach out. I've had to call the courthouse. I've had to speak with the detectives.”
She feels Descano is not making victims a priority.
“We should be the priority,” said Kuhn. “Do I have faith in Steve Descano’s office? No. I think his tendency in my experience has shown that he will tell me whatever he thinks I want to hear and he will wait and wait and wait and just allow it to disintegrate and just move on.”
On Wednesday, 7News reached out to Descano’s office about the plea agreement that was on the court calendar this week.
“This is a clerical error,” Descano’s spokesperson told 7News. “Tomorrow’s hearing is a status hearing to continue the case, since no resolution has been reached yet, and is labeled inaccurately on the court’s schedule despite multiple requests to change it. There have been no developments in this case since December and no plea has been discussed.”
This is the second time in three weeks 7News has brought victims’ concerns to Descano’s office about plea agreements with defendants accused of violent conduct.
In both instances, in Kuhn’s case and in the Stimson case, Descano’s office denied a plea agreement was made.
“We're so thankful, we're so grateful that not a single person was physically hurt by a gunshot,” said Kuhn. “There wasn't anyone physically hurt by a gunshot in the Tysons shooting, but that hit the news real quick. And is it because there were so many people that were covering that story, so Descano cared? He had to save face? Is that what it is? Because that's all I can see. I'm not trying to assume, but it's very hard not to assume.”
When Descano took office, he issued a memorandum to his prosecutorial team instructing them to drop felonies to misdemeanors.
Kuhn said Descano’s prosecutor on her case told her: “just because he [the gunman] did a bad thing, it doesn't make him a bad person.”
“100% It does,” said Kuhn. “We actually have to know who we're voting for. And we have to hold people accountable for their promises. [Descano's] promised so much and he has not delivered on his promises. So I really hope that people go out [and vote].”
7News will be in court on Thursday morning and will let you know what happens in this case.