President Donald Trump issued pardons on Wednesday for two Washington, D.C., police officers convicted in connection with the 2020 death of Karon Hylton-Brown, a 20-year-old Black man. The decision, announced by the White House, has reignited controversy surrounding the case.
In September 2024, Officer Terence Sutton Jr. was sentenced to 66 months in prison, while Lieutenant Andrew Zabavsky received a 48-month sentence. Their convictions stemmed from an unauthorized police pursuit on October 23, 2020, in Northwest Washington, D.C., which ended in a fatal collision that claimed Hylton-Brown’s life. The Justice Department had noted that both officers were free pending appeals of their convictions.
Sutton and Zabavsky had been placed on “indefinite suspension without pay” by the Metropolitan Police Department while administrative proceedings were ongoing. Sutton, in his early 40s, was found guilty in late 2022 by a federal jury after a nine-week trial. His charges included second-degree murder, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and obstruction of justice. Zabavsky, in his mid-50s, was convicted of conspiracy to obstruct and obstruction of justice.
The jury determined that Sutton’s reckless driving during the chase demonstrated a “conscious disregard” for the risk of harm and directly caused Hylton-Brown’s death. Both officers were also found to have conspired to conceal the circumstances of the crash from authorities.
The DC Police Union had lobbied for presidential pardons for both officers. Sutton’s attorney, Kellen Dwyer, expressed confidence that the conviction would have been overturned on appeal but welcomed Trump’s intervention. Zabavsky’s attorney, Christopher Zampogna, also praised the decision, thanking the president for ending the case.
Karen Hylton, the mother of Karon Hylton-Brown, reacted with shock and heartbreak to the pardons, calling them a devastating blow for her family and their pursuit of justice.