Convergence in Court of 3 of D.C.'s Most Senseless Crimes

The crimes were so horrific that they stood apart from other violence in the District this year and provoked waves of grief and outrage.

When the decomposing bodies of four young girls were found in their mother's home, callers flooded child welfare agencies reporting suspicions of child abuse.

Hundreds of mourners attended the funeral of a 12-year-old girl strangled in her living room.

Three young men died during a hail of gunfire in Trinidad, prompting police checkpoints in the neighborhood.

In one morning yesterday, the suspects in all three high-profile cases converged on a single courtroom in D.C. Superior Court. In between were two cases involving child sexual abuse and three other homicides.

Eight hearings in three hours, a litany of death and abuse made all the more poignant by the young ages of many of the victims.

Judge Frederick H. Weisberg's 48-seat courtroom was filled to capacity with suspects, attorneys, police officers, reporters, and family members and friends of victims.

"This is an unusual day," Weisberg said in a whisper as he leaned over the bench to reassure the court stenographer after a hectic morning.

Weisberg is one of four judges at D.C. Superior Court who oversee the District's most violent crimes: Murder, rape and sexual assaults. A computer randomly assigns the cases to judges. Weisberg, who sets Fridays aside for hearings, usually has 35 to 50 cases on his calendar, but he acknowledged that it was rare to hold 12 hearings in one day, as he did yesterday.

Weisberg declined to talk about yesterday's cases. But, he allowed, "it was a lot to do in one day."

One hearing was for Banita Jacks, 33, the Southeast woman accused of killing her four daughters. She was indicted on 12 counts, including first-degree murder, cruelty to children and murder while armed. Jacks pleaded not guilty.

Jacks was arrested Jan. 9 in the deaths of her daughters -- Aja Fogle, 5, N'Kiah Fogle, 6, Tatiana Jacks, 11, and Brittany Jacks, 16 -- after their bodies were discovered by U.S. marshals who were evicting her from her rowhouse. Weisberg set trial for Dec. 1. He also told Peter Krauthamer, Jacks's attorney, that if he plans to mount an insanity defense, he must alert the court and prosecutors by Sept. 29.