Justice for Officer Sutton
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Anonymous
https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/former-mpd-officers-convicted-death-20-year-old-karon-hylton-brown Jurors Found Evidence of a Conscious Disregard of the Extreme Risk of Harm A jury sitting in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia returned guilty verdicts against two former members of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) in connection with a fatal police pursuit, on Oct. 23, 2020, in Northwest Washington, that caused the death of Karon Hylton-Brown, announced Matthew M. Graves, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, and Wayne A. Jacobs, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office’s Criminal Division. Terence Sutton, 38, an officer, was found guilty of second degree murder, conspiracy to obstruct, and obstruction of justice. Andrew Zabavsky, 54, a former lieutenant, was found guilty of conspiracy to obstruct and obstruction of justice. The trial was heard before the Honorable Paul L. Friedman in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled. The jury found that Sutton caused Mr. Hylton-Brown’s death by driving a police vehicle in conscious disregard for an extreme risk of death or serious bodily injury to Mr. Hylton-Brown. The jury further found that Sutton and Zabavsky conspired and combined to hide from MPD officials the circumstances of the traffic crash leading to Mr. Hylton-Brown’s death. At the time of the police pursuit, Sutton was assigned to the Crime Suppression Team in MPD’s Fourth Police District. Zabavsky supervised the Fourth Police District’s Crime Suppression Team officers, including Sutton. The pursuit began at approximately 10 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 23, 2020, after officers observed Mr. Hylton-Brown, 20, driving a moped on a sidewalk in the Brightwood Park area of Northwest Washington. The pursuit continued on neighborhood streets for more than 10 blocks and into an alley off the 700 block of Kennedy Street NW. Immediately upon exiting the alley and entering Kennedy Street, Mr. Hylton-Brown was struck by an oncoming civilian vehicle. He suffered severe head trauma and died on Oct. 25, 2020. The charge of second-degree murder carries a statutory maximum of 40 years in prison. The conspiracy charge carries a statutory maximum of five years and the obstruction of justice charge carries a maximum of 20 years. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. This case was investigated by the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the FBI’s Washington Field Office. The case is being prosecuted by the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. Updated December 21, 2022 |
Anonymous
Police policy is that you are only allowed to chase a fleeing felon. The reason you don't chase someone for a petty crime is because the risk of them dying or somebody else dying is too high. The police knew that his actions would likely result in the death of another so he intentionally did something he know could kill someone. That is how the law works and this is not a "DC law", it's a very common law. |
Anonymous
Anonymous
There have been enough very public cases of jury verdicts that were overturned. The evidence presented or not presented matters. Yes, political climate and biases matter. See: Adnan Syed. Central Park 5. And on and on. |
Anonymous
Anonymous
The Central Park 5 were innocent - they had nothing whatsoever to do with what they were accused of doing. Terence Sutton is not innocent - he did what he was accused of doing. You just don't think that should be second degree murder. |
Anonymous
Anonymous
Let’s go with your argument. Maybe also stay with the theme of antisemitic crazy context. It was perfectly lawful to take away property from Jews in some countries or Japanese here. You still good with lawful? |
Anonymous
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To everyone here defending this horrendous verdict and then complaining about the crime in DC......
Good luck getting police officers to work in the city. I sure as hell would never consider working in DC, as a police officer - or any other job for that matter. The "laws" in DC clearly are intended to protect the criminal and punish the victims. |
Anonymous
Anonymous
So police officers won't work in DC unless they're allowed to break the law? Wow. |
Anonymous
| Talk about a miscarriage of justice. |
Anonymous
Feel free to start a new thread about how our laws are unjust. Go ahead and compare convictions of police officers for conspiracy and obstruction of justice to dispossession and internment of Japanese citizens. Or do you believe that the convictions for conspiracy and obstruction of justice were just? |
Anonymous
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I thought you didn’t want to discuss just/unjust, just lawful/unkawful.
Is it lawful this guy goes to prison for 40+ years? Maybe. Is it just this guy goes to prison for 40+ years? Absolutely not. That’s how sane logic works |
Anonymous
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Newsflash to the “a jury convicted him” crowd. (Btw, in a unique political moment in history. Overcorrections happen. Not to be facetious? But ever been to Salem?).
There is NO appetite to sentence him. He will not see the inside of a jail. Again, terribly sorry about the death as I’m sure is the cop. But it’s not a just conviction albeit it might still be lawful at this moment in time |