WASHINGTON — A former DC Police officer was sentenced to five years in prison Thursday for recklessly chasing a moped rider through the Brightwood Park neighborhood and attempting to cover up the fatal crash that followed.
DC Police Officer Terence Sutton, 40, was convicted by a jury in 2022 of second-degree murder for the death of 20-year-old Karon Hylton-Brown. Hylton-Brown was killed in October 2020 when he pulled his electric moped into oncoming traffic while fleeing Sutton, who had attempted to stop him for riding the moped on the sidewalk and without a helmet. The chase lasted for three minutes across 10 city blocks – with Sutton at times going the wrong way on city streets and accelerating to twice the residential speed limit. The pursuit violated the department's policy, which prohibited officers from chasing suspects for minor traffic offenses.
Hylton-Brown's death, which came just months after the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers, sparked days of protests outside the DC Police Department's Fourth District headquarters and ultimately launched a federal civil rights investigation. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia eventually charged Sutton with second-degree murder and with 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 preserve the crime scene after Hylton-Brown's crash, and also failed to contact either the department's Major Crash Unit or internal affairs as they should have. Both men were ultimately convicted 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 bond while they appeal their convictions to the D.C. Circuit.
The sentence drew no visible reaction from Karen Hylton, Hylton-Brown's mother, who sat in the front row of the public gallery on Thursday. But outside the court, she told WUSA9 that the sentencing was an example of white privilege at its finest.
"How can you not put value on my child's life?" Hylton asked, adding that the judge "sat there, he scold[ed] them, he knew they were wrong."
"If this was reversed, if this was a Black man, he would've — he would've been locked up," Hylton said.
A day earlier, Hylton had also erupted at Sutton in a grief-filled victim impact statement criticizing the dozens of character witnesses, predominately fellow police officers, he'd called in his defense.
“I’m your character witness!” Hylton said Wednesday, looking at Sutton. “My baby is resting because of you. I’m your character witness! The best one you’ve got.”
READ MORE | 'I'm your character witness!' | Mother of Karon Hylton-Brown erupts at officer convicted in son's death
U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, who was sworn in to the office two months after Sutton's indictment, released a statement Thursday saying the case reaffirmed the rule of law.
"Public safety requires public trust," Graves said. "Crimes like this erode that trust and are a disservice to the community and the thousands of officers who work incredible hard, within the bounds of 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 leaders — about the unprecedented decision to charge an officer with murder where no physical contact was made and no force was used. For two days prior to Friday's sentencing, Sutton's attorneys called dozens of current and former officers to testify on his behalf. Among them was former DC Police Chief Peter Newsham, now chief in Prince William County, Virginia, who said police officials around the country had told him they were "dumbfounded" by the case. Newsham, who was chief in D.C. during the civil unrest following George Floyd's death, said he believed the case was politically motivated.
“It is my opinion that had this case not occurred on the heels of the George Floyd murder, these officers would not be facing decades of jail time,” Newsham said.
Another officer currently assigned to Sutton's former Fourth District said she had decided to leave law enforcement because of the case.
“How can we be asked to actively patrol our beats, detain offenders and do our duties when we’re constantly wondering if we could become the next Terence Sutton?” Officer Esmeralda Zamora said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Aloi, who joined the case in late 2022, repeatedly rose during the hearings to defend the righteousness of the prosecution and express her dismay at the dozens of law enforcement officers who said it had made them fearful to do their jobs.
"The fact that a parade of officers came in here... and suggested he was prosecuted for doing his job only heightens the need for deterrence," Aloi said Thursday.
But the government also failed to win over Friedman, who described the 12 years Sutton faced at the bottom-end of the sentencing guidelines as "ridiculous." Although he didn't agree to the probationary sentence Sutton's attorneys sought, his ultimate decision — 5.5 years for Sutton — was less than a third of the 18 years in prison the U.S. Attorney's Office sought.
Friedman also granted a request by defense attorneys to allow Sutton and Zabavsky to remain free on bond while they appeal their convictions to the D.C. Circuit. Aloi said Friday the government was not seeking for the men to be immediately ordered into custody, but asked to be allowed to brief Friedman on whether they should remain on bond pending appeal. Friedman denied that request.
Sutton's attorneys J. Michael Hannon and Carmen Hernandez have already promised an extensive appeal of both the conviction and decisions Friedman made to bar from trial certain evidence, including Hylton-Brown's alleged affiliation with the Kennedy Street Crew (KDY) gang.
According to filings by Hannon, on the day of his death, Hylton-Brown was identified in a “beat book” prepared by DC Police’s Intelligence Unit as a verified member of KDY. Hannon argued at trial that another officer had flagged suspicious behavior by Hylton-Brown earlier in the day and said Sutton and Zabavsky believed he had returned to Brightwood Park that evening to retaliate after a dispute.
Last June – roughly six months after Sutton and Zabavsky were convicted at trial – federal prosecutors indicted 12 alleged KDY members on a slew of charges ranging from conspiracy to commit drug trafficking 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 were operating open-air drug markets in the Brightwood Park neighborhood.
In a motion to compel additional discovery in July, Hannon argued 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 in KDY had “no bearing on the central issue of [Sutton’s] guilt in this case.”
Sutton made no statement outside of court Thursday after his sentence was read. His attorneys have 14 days after judgment is entered to file their notice of appeal to the D.C. Circuit. Complicated federal appeals like Sutton's can take a year or more to resolve in typical circuits, and that timeframe has been extended since 2021 in the D.C. Circuit due to the number of Jan. 6 cases the appellate court has been asked to hear.
The DC Police Union shared a statement Thursday, saying plan to continue supporting Sutton through his appeal: