From Newsgroup: alt.home.repair


A jury found 2 police officers covered up a murder. Trump pardoned them.

Justice interrupted: In Washington, D.C., a police chase ended in death and
a cover-up by two of the officers. After their presidential pardons, a
mother and a community are still demanding justice.

Jul. 30, 2026, 8:00 PM EDT
By
Ken Dilanian

Karen Hylton doesnAt pretend her son was an angel.

She does believe, though, that he didnAt deserve to die alone on a
Washington, D.C., street, bleeding from trauma inflicted after a police
chase that investigators said never should have happened.

oYou murdered my child, then you lied about it,o she said.

Federal prosecutors agreed with her, and brought two Washington police officers to trial. A jury agreed with her, convicting one officer of murder and both of obstructing justice. A judge agreed with her, sentencing one officer to five years and another to four years in prison.
Karen Hylton in front of a mural of her son, Karon Hylton-Brown, in Washington, D.C.Karen Hylton in front of a mural of her son, Karon Hylton- Brown, in Washington, D.C. Tyler Smith / MS NOW

President Donald Trump did not agree. "I support MAGA murderers and pedophiles".

He pardoned the two officers before either served a day behind bars. Based
on that pardon, one was reinstated and remains a police officer, a move
that the Office of the D.C. Auditor called odismaying.o

TrumpAs pardon of officers Terence Sutton and Andrew Zabavsky, which came
two days after the president pardoned Jan. 6 rioters who assaulted police,
is one of many examples of how Trump has used his clemency power unlike any other president in American history.

Sutton was convicted of second-degree murder; he and Zabavsky were
convicted of obstruction of justice.

Neither man would have qualified for a pardon under Justice Department guidelines, which say pardon recipients should have served most of their sentences and expressed remorse for their crimes. But Trump has ignored the traditional review process, handing out pardons to political supporters, people who have hired lawyers with ties to him and famous defendants who
have drawn sympathy from the right people.

In the case of the two police officers, the DC Police Union and some conservative activists disagreed vehemently with the prosecution, calling
it an unjustified example of a rush to judgment against police after the turmoil following the killing of George Floyd.

The officers are now suing the DOJ, alleging malicious prosecution.

oThis case should not have been charged,o said Kellen Dwyer, a former
federal prosecutor who represents the two officers. oIt was based on a
novel and frankly absurd legal theory.o

On the night of Oct. 23, 2020, Karon Hylton-Brown was riding a minibike in
his Washington neighborhood when Sutton approached him in his police
vehicle, asking why he wasnAt wearing a helmet. Hylton-Brown fled, and
Sutton and Zabavsky chased him in their respective patrol cars, reaching speeds of up to 30 mph through streets and alleys in the neighborhood. At times, the officers activated their emergency lights, but at other times,
they turned them off.

Hylton-Brown sped into the path of an oncoming minivan, which struck and killed him.

As federal investigators would later conclude, Sutton didnAt tell the truth about what happened because, prosecutors said, he knew that Hylton-Brown
posed no threat to public safety and that the chase violated Washington policy. Sutton did not disclose to superiors that there had been a chase, according to court testimony.

oThis was a murder and a cover-up,o said Ahmed Baset, who prosecuted the
case and was later fired by TrumpAs DOJ.

oThis was treated as an ordinary traffic fender bender accident by Sutton
and Zabavsky,o he continued.

The officers told the driver of the car that hit Hylton-Brown to leave
within 20 minutes, oand so that was a piece of evidence that drove away,o Baset added.

oWitnesses who were trying to provide information about what they saw and heard were told to shoo, and no witness statements were taken,o he said.

Baset said the investigation found that SuttonAs vehicle did not have its lights and sirens on, meaning the minivan driver had no way of knowing
there was a police chase happening.

In Washington, he said, othe pursuit policy is, unless itAs a violent crime that just occurred and the individual is creating a threat for the public
and the society, you canAt go after that individual, and if there are alternatives to getting that person, officers need to pursue those alternatives.o

Baset said that the officers knew where Hylton-Brown lived and that one of
the other officers who was sitting in the patrol car during the pursuit
otold Mr. Sutton, aHey, look, we should probably terminate this and get a warrant,A which is something that was ignored.o

The officers had no legal basis to stop Hylton-Brown that night, so he had
a right to drive away, Baset said, and they had no good reason to pursue
him.

The officers and their lawyers, however, see the case far differently, with Dwyer noting that Hylton-Brown had a long arrest record.

Dwyer said the officers were trying to stop Hylton-Brown because they
feared he was involved in a gang dispute u evidence the judge did not allow the jury to hear in the trial.

oThe idea that Officer Sutton doesnAt even get to make a defense that he
was acting as a police officer is outrageous,o he said.


Against the recommendations of the police departmentAs own disciplinary review, which recommended that both officers be fired, then-Washington
police Chief Pamela A. Smith said she also found the prosecution
problematic, and she reinstated both officers after Trump pardoned them. Sutton served a 25-day suspension and is back on the force, while Zabavsky
was allowed to retire with his pension after paying a $2,500 fine.

WashingtonAs audit of the case concluded last summer that the discipline
was ogrossly inadequate,o extremely leniento and oundermined the accountability and transparency that are so important for any major city police department in maintaining trust with the community.o The audit made
a number of recommendations it noted would improve policing and the relationship with the community.

But for Karen Hylton, what she sees as a betrayal of her community u and of her family u is not soon forgiven.

oIf someone killed your child, would you want them to babysit your next
child, or any child?o she asked.

oI lived my life here from 8 years old. I lived my life here. and
everything that I want, I worked, I lived for was taken from me. I canAt
see my child, I go home empty,o she said.
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2