DC police officer sentenced to 5 years in prison for murder of Karon Hylton-Brown

WASHINGTON – A former Washington, D.C. police officer was sentenced to five years in prison Thursday for recklessly pursuing a moped rider through the Brightwood Park neighborhood and attempting to cover up the fatal crash that followed.

D.C. police officer Terence Sutton, 40, was convicted by a jury in 2022 of the premeditated murder of 20-year-old Karon Hylton-Brown. Hylton-Brown was killed in October 2020 when he drove his electric moped into oncoming traffic while fleeing Sutton. Sutton had tried to pull him over for riding the moped on the sidewalk and without a helmet. The chase lasted three minutes and spanned 10 blocks — with Sutton driving the wrong way on city streets at times and speeding at twice the residential speed limit. The pursuit violated department policy prohibiting officers from pursuing suspects for minor traffic violations.

Hylton-Brown's death, which came just months after the killing of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis, sparked days of protests outside the Washington, D.C. police's Fourth Precinct headquarters and ultimately led to a federal investigation into civil rights violations. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia ultimately charged Sutton with first-degree murder and conspiring with his commanding officer, Lt. Andrew Zabavsky, 56, to cover up the details of the chase and crash.

During a nine-week trial, prosecutors said Sutton and Zabavsky failed to secure the scene after Hylton-Brown's accident and also failed to contact the major accident unit or the department's internal affairs division, as they should have done. Both men were ultimately found guilty by a jury of conspiracy and obstruction of justice.

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman sentenced Sutton to five and a half years in prison. Zabavsky, who was not charged with murder, was also sentenced to four years. Both were allowed to remain free on bail while they appeal their convictions in the D.C. Circuit.

The verdict did not elicit any visible reaction from Karen Hylton, Hylton-Brown's mother, who was sitting in the front row of the public gallery on Thursday. Outside the courtroom, however, she told WUSA9 that the verdict was an example of white privilege at its finest.

“How can you not value my child's life?” Hylton asked, adding that the judge “sat there and ranted[ed] them, he knew they were wrong.”

“If it had been the other way around and it had been a black man, he would have been locked up,” Hylton said.

A day earlier in Sutton, Hylton had also been filled with grief and had issued a victim impact statement in which he criticised the dozens of character witnesses – mostly police colleagues – he had called in his defence.

“I'm your character witness!” Hylton said Wednesday, looking at Sutton. “My baby is resting thanks to you. I'm your character witness! The best one you have.”

READ MORE | “I'm your character witness!” | Karon Hylton-Brown's mother freaks out as police officer convicted of her son's death

U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, who was sworn in two months after Sutton's indictment, released a statement Thursday saying the case reaffirms the rule of law.

“Public safety requires public trust,” Graves said. “Crimes like this undermine that trust and are a disservice to the community and the thousands of police officers who work incredibly hard under the Constitution to keep us safe.”

Since the case was filed, the U.S. Attorney's Office has faced criticism from rank-and-file officers — and law enforcement officials — for the unprecedented decision to charge an officer with murder when there was no physical contact or use of force. Two days before Friday's verdict, Sutton's lawyers called dozens of current and former officers to testify on his behalf. Among them was former D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham, now police chief in Prince William County, Virginia, who said police officers across the country have told him they are “stunned” by the case. Newsham, who was police chief in D.C. during the unrest following George Floyd's death, said he believes the case is politically motivated.

“In my opinion, these officers would not be facing decades of prison sentences if this case had not happened so immediately after the murder of George Floyd,” Newsham said.

READ MORE | Chief Newsham and other officials say law enforcement in deadly Karon Hylton-Brown chase makes cops afraid to do their jobs

Another officer currently assigned to Sutton's former Fourth Precinct said she decided to leave the police force because of the case.

“How can we be expected to actively patrol our precincts, arrest criminals and perform our duties when we are constantly wondering if we could become the next Terence Sutton?” said Officer Esmeralda Zamora.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Aloi, who joined the case in late 2022, repeatedly rose during the hearings to defend the legality of the charges and express her dismay at the dozens of police officers who said the charges made them afraid to do their jobs.

“The fact that an entire army of officials came here and claimed he was being prosecuted for doing his job only increases the need for deterrence,” Aloi said on Thursday.

But Friedman was also unable to convince the government. He called the 12 years Sutton faced at the low end of sentencing guidelines “ridiculous.” Although he disagreed with the suspended sentence requested by Sutton's lawyers, his final decision – 5.5 years for Sutton – was less than a third of the 18 years in prison the U.S. Attorney's Office had asked for.

Friedman also granted a request by defense attorneys to keep Sutton and Zabavsky free on bail while they appeal their convictions before the D.C. Circuit. Aloi said Friday that the government was not seeking to take the men into custody immediately, but had asked to inform Friedman whether they should remain free on bail pending the appeal. Friedman denied that request.

Sutton's attorneys, J. Michael Hannon and Carmen Hernandez, have already announced that they will file a broad appeal against both the verdict and Friedman's decision to exclude certain evidence from the trial, including Hylton-Brown's alleged connection to the Kennedy Street Crew (KDY) gang.

According to Hannon's records, Hylton-Brown was identified as a confirmed member of KDY in a DC Police Intelligence Unit “beat book” the day of his death. Hannon argued in court that another officer had pointed out suspicious behavior by Hylton-Brown earlier in the day, and said Sutton and Zabavsky believed he had returned to Brightwood Park that evening to seek revenge after an argument.

Last June, about six months after Sutton and Zabavsky were convicted, federal prosecutors charged 12 alleged KDY members with charges ranging from conspiracy to traffic drugs to assault with a deadly weapon. In a press release issued alongside the arrests, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia said the KDY members operated open-air drug markets in the Brightwood Park neighborhood.

In a motion for additional evidence in July, Hannon argued that prosecutors had failed to provide potentially exculpatory information about the then-ongoing investigation into KDY and Hylton-Brown's alleged membership in the gang. U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman denied that motion last month, ruling that Hylton-Brown's alleged involvement with KDY “had no bearing on the central question of the [Sutton’s] Guilt in this case.”

Sutton made no statement outside court on Thursday after the verdict. His attorneys have 14 days after the verdict to file their appeal brief with the D.C. Circuit. Complicated federal appeals like Sutton's can take a year or more in regular judicial districts, and that time frame has been extended in the D.C. Circuit since 2021 due to the number of Jan. 6 cases the appeals court is scheduled to hear.