The ABC Board is hoping to have a ruling on Ali Ahmed Mohammed's death by Jan. 19. (Photo: TBD Staff)

There is absolutely no guarantee that D.C.'s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will issue a ruling on the cause and manner of 27-year-old Ali Ahmed Mohammed's death in the DC9 case by Jan. 19.

The city's Alcoholic Beverage Control Board ruled Wednesday that the nightclub can legally re-open anytime after Dec. 15. But they also placed a number of conditions on the club — including that they cannot re-hire any of the five men involved in the Oct. 15 incident before then — that would expire on Jan. 19, the date set for the club's next status hearing before the board. Assistant Attorney General Louise Phillips told the board Wednesday that she expected to have an autopsy report by that date at the latest, which would theoretically help the board put this case to rest.

But the medical examiner won't necessarily complete its investigation into Mohammed's death within a 90-day window, according to OCME chief of staff Beverly Fields. The National Association of Medical Examiners does say that medical examiner’s offices should have about 90 percent of their autopsy reports completed within 60 to 90 days. But that's "a guideline," says Fields. "You should attempt to try to get them done within 60 to 90 days." In other words, there's always a chance the Mohammed autopsy could fall into the 10 percent of cases that aren't completed within the usual timeframe.

Fields did say she doesn't have any reason to think that a ruling in this case will definitely take more than 90 days, "but with any case it's just so hard to say, which is why we don't. We're very, very careful. I really can't say. It could be tomorrow. It could be 20 days from now," she says.

With tensions running so high among the Ethiopian community activists who have been protesting DC9 every step of the way, the wait for this OCME ruling may seem excruciatingly long, but it's actually not at all unusual. And while we continue to wait, there's another prospect to keep in mind: it's always possible that the cause and manner of Mohammed's death could ultimately be ruled "undetermined."