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Two D.C. police officers convicted in murder trial
Justice for Karon Hylton-Brown came in the form of a guilty verdict for two former D.C. police officers charged in his tragic 2020 death. FOX 5's Jacqueline Matter spoke to Hylton-Brown's attorney and the mother of his child.
WASHINGTON - Two former D.C. police officers are home Wednesday night awaiting sentencing after a jury found them guilty in the death of Karon Hylton-Brown. A District judge ruled they are not a threat to the community or a flight risk.
It's an unprecedented verdict that took the jury five days to reach.
"I think this is the biggest civil rights case in the U.S. today. Nobody has ever convicted a police officer who didn’t even hit the car that caused the death, "said David Shurtz, the attorney for the estate of Hylton-Brown.
More than two years after two D.C. police officers chased Hylton-Brown through the streets of D.C. – Officer Terence Sutton and Lieutenant Andrew Zabavsky were found guilty on all charges related to his death.
"I didn’t think this day would come as far as them being charged with the crimes they committed," said Amaala Jones-Bey, the mother of Hylton-Brown’s daughter.
Karon Hylton-Brown death: 2 Former D.C. police officers found guilty
The 20-year-old father was stopped for riding a moped on the sidewalk without a helmet in October 2022.
The chase that followed lasted more than three minutes and ended when Hylton-Brown rode into oncoming traffic where he was hit by a car, suffered severe head trauma, and died three days later.
The trial for the two officers lasted more than a month and the jury found Sutton guilty of the most serious charge.
"The law was dead on. There was this risk. He knew of the risk, and he broke the law to take the risk and there was a death involved with it, and consequently, he’s being charged with second-degree murder," Shurtz said.
Sutton and his supervisor, Zabavsky, were found guilty of conspiracy and obstruction of justice for covering up what happened.
Sutton faces up to 40 years in prison, while Zabavsky could be behind bars for at least 20 years.
As for fair sentencing, activists who attended the trial had mixed emotions.
"I hope the prosecutors do this for all of the cops, so they can stop doing this and showing up like they're judge, jury and God," said Neenee Taylor, co-founder of Harriet’s Wildest Dreams.
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Former DC police officers found guilty in deadly 2020 moped chase
Two former Metropolitan Police Department officers, Terrance Sutton, 38, and Andrew Zabavsky, 54, charged in connection to the death of Karon Hylton-Brown were found guilty in court on Wednesday.
Hylton-Brown’s girlfriend, Jones-Bey, said: "I don’t ever want her to think her dad was a bad person. Her dad loved her a lot the time he had with her."
People inside the courtroom told FOX 5 that Hylton-Brown’s mom was arrested after she allegedly assaulted a U.S. Marshal while the judge read the verdict and allowed the two cops to be released.
READ MORE: DC police violated pursuit policy in deadly moped incident, attorney says
A sentencing date for them has not yet been set.
This is the first time a D.C. police officer has been convicted of murder.