Last week, an illegal immigrant named Abdul Jalloh, 32, was charged with the killing of Stephanie Minter, 41, who was found stabbed to death outside a bus stop in Fairfax County, Virginia. Jalloh had more than two dozen prior arrests, including several for malicious wounding. He was well known to law enforcement. And a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Fox5 found that police had repeatedly warned the office of Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Steve Descano to keep Jalloh behind bars, telling prosecutors they feared he could strike again at any moment.
Descano's office did not hold him. The reason given: they did not have victim cooperation to keep him on charges.
Jalloh is now charged with murder. Minter is dead. And the prosecutor whose office let the cycle continue is the same man the American Enterprise Institute earlier this year labeled "America's Worst Prosecutor."
Descano's office acknowledged that Jalloh was well known to law enforcement prior to the alleged attack that killed Minter. Officials from the office said Jalloh had previously been convicted and served jail time for a malicious wounding charge in 2023. But the office also said that in several cases it was unable to move forward with prosecution because victims could not be located or contacted, noting that Jalloh often targeted individuals without fixed addresses.
That explanation deserves scrutiny. If a violent offender is known to target people who are difficult to locate, that is not a reason to release him. It is a reason to find a prosecutorial path that does not depend on the availability of his most vulnerable targets. The Fox5 FOIA results show police understood the danger. The prosecutor's office chose a different calculation.
Jalloh is not the only case fueling criticism of Descano's office. In 2024, Descano's office failed to prosecute registered sex offender Richard Cox for allegedly exposing himself in a women's locker room. Months later, Cox was accused of doing so again, this time in a high school girls' locker room and other locations.
A spokesman for the prosecutor's office told ABC7 that prosecutors were not involved in the Cox case because it was a misdemeanor and Cox was not being represented by a lawyer. That procedural distinction may satisfy an internal checklist. It does nothing for the girls in that locker room.
In June 2022, Joshua Daniel Danehower, 37, killed CEO Gret Glyer as Glyer lay in bed next to his wife. Danehower had briefly dated Glyer's wife and, as described in the case record, became obsessed with her. He created a planning document titled "The Plan" that detailed the steps he intended to take after shooting Glyer, including changing his clothes immediately afterward and getting onto a highway as quickly as possible.
Ahead of trial, prosecutors in Descano's office put forward an insanity plea on Danehower's behalf. A judge accepted it. Instead of prison, Danehower was housed in a mental health facility with the possibility of release after annual reviews. Under Virginia law, individuals found legally insane are remanded indefinitely to a Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services facility.
Officials from the Commonwealth of Virginia said in a statement that the Glyer family's hurt and disappointment was understandable, and that clinical experts had determined the defendant was legally insane at the time of the offense, meaning prosecutors would be unable to meet the burden of proof at trial.
Gret Glyer's sister, Gizan Glyer, did not accept that reasoning.
There was a premeditated nature to his crime. The killer planned the attack with a step-by-step procedure of how he was going to both kill my brother and get away with it.
A man who writes a document called "The Plan," lays out an escape route, and executes a shooting in a private home is not acting on impulse. Gizan Glyer put the core problem plainly.
When there is no punishment for a premeditated murder, there's no hope in the criminal justice system.
The pattern extends further. Last summer, Robert Reed was accused of killing a homeless man at a bus station. Reed had been arrested after being seen wearing clothing similar to that of the suspect at the scene. Descano's office dropped the second-degree murder charge after DNA testing came back inconclusive and cited a lack of witness cooperation.
Separately, Helena Little was accused of killing her 79-year-old mother. Police said a caretaker discovered Little's mother stabbed to death in her apartment, and Little was arrested days later. Descano's office dropped the murder charges. In a hearing on March 4, a judge determined that prosecutors had not provided enough probable cause, meaning there was not a sufficient basis to believe a crime had been committed, to move forward with a trial.
Descano's office said the March 4 ruling was part of the judge's role in the criminal justice system. The office also said both the Little and Reed cases were handled by experienced deputies and that decisions were based on the facts of each case, available evidence, and the rules of the American legal system.
A judge finding that a prosecutor failed to establish probable cause is not a vindication of that prosecutor. It is a measure of how thin the case was when it arrived in court.
According to AEI, Descano received more than $650,000 from organizations backed by billionaire George Soros to support his election campaign. That figure, combined with the exposed pattern of dropped charges, failed prosecutions, and released defendants who allegedly went on to reoffend, is why AEI tagged Descano with the label "America's Worst Prosecutor."
The Daily Mail contacted Descano's office for comment. Authorities have not publicly confirmed whether any internal review of these case outcomes is underway or planned.
The public record in Fairfax County now includes a man with more than two dozen arrests who was charged with a stabbing death after police begged prosecutors to keep him locked up. It includes a registered sex offender who allegedly reoffended after the prosecutor's office declined to act. It includes a killer who wrote a step-by-step plan and avoided prison. It includes two additional homicide cases where charges were dropped.
In every instance, Descano's office offered a procedural explanation. Victim cooperation. Misdemeanor classification. Insanity finding. Inconclusive DNA. Insufficient probable cause. Each explanation may carry legal weight in isolation. Taken together, they describe an office where the path of least resistance runs through the front door of the courthouse and back onto the street. The people of Fairfax County are the ones standing on that street when the next case file closes.
