A 24-year-old aspiring model from Washington DC has been charged in an unprovoked knife attack in Chinatown. Melodie Anne Brevard is charged with assault with intent to kill and aggravated assault while armed in the stabbing of 20-year-old Annie Ropeik, a Boston University student and intern for National Public Radio.

According to police, the stabbing occurred on a busy sidewalk at approximately 9:30 on the morning of August 4, 2010. Witnesses say that Ropeik was walking to her internship at NPR when Brevard ran up to her, screaming and stabbing her four times in the neck and back. Bystanders subdued Brevard until police arrived. While initial reports stated that the stabbing was the result of a dispute between the two women, police now say that the assault was a "random attack" that was completely unprovoked.

This is not the first time Brevard has needed the services of a DC assault lawyer. She received probation before judgment for charges of second degree assault in 2007, and in 2009, she was charged with assaulting a police officer. The 2009 charge was later dropped by prosecutors.

Charging documents report that Brevard has been diagnosed with Bipolar Type II Disorder, but that she stopped taking her psychotropic medication nearly a month ago. Ironically, Bipolar II is a milder form of Bipolar Disorder, which causes severe and abrupt mood swings from hypomania (extreme excitability) to depression. The prosecution and defense will both certainly pay close attention to Brevard's history of assault and mental illness at her trial.

This article is presented by Price Benowitz, LLP, a criminal and DUI defense firm serving Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia. For more information, please visit our Maryland Assault Lawyer or Virginia Assault Lawyer webpages.