President Donald Trump gave full pardons to both Terence Sutton and Andrew Zabavsky when he forgave them for their part in Karon Hylton-Brown’s 2020 death and the resulting police cover-up. The presidential pardon decision raises fresh questions about the restrictions and equality of executive powers to pardon.
In October 2020 Sutton and Zabavsky pursued 20-year-old Hylton-Brown across Northwest D.C. streets for a traffic infraction while he rode a moped without wearing a helmet. During the high-speed pursuit, Hylton-Brown crashed into an approaching vehicle which killed him.
Following the crash Sutton and Zabavsky attempted to bury evidence to deceive authorities about the accident. Authorities charged Sutton with second-degree murder plus obstruction of justice charges from his conspiracy to commit obstruction. He was given 66 months in prison. Police officer Zabavsky took part in concealing evidence and received a 48-month sentence for conspiracy to obstruct justice plus another charge of obstruction of justice.
The decision of Trump to pardon the police officers invited mixed reactions. The D.C. Police Union lobbied heavily for clemency and welcomed the move claiming that the officers were unduly prosecuted for doing their jobs under trying circumstances. The union claimed such convictions were politically motivated and undermined the ability of law enforcement agencies to do their work.
But there is an outrage from the family, particularly that of Karon Hylton-Brown, with his mother, Karen Hylton, describing it as an “insult to her memory and a “disregard for justice”-saying: “My son was killed in a reckless chase and they are now free.”.
This pardon seems to incipiently lay down a dangerous precedent as it is the second pardon made by Donald Trump granting pardon to those involved in the January 6 Capitol riot incidents. Such actions are ennobled as deficiencies in public trust in judicial processes.
Already, this case has been gathering nationwide attention with the ongoing heard between police accountability and executive clemency. Now that Trump has begun his second term, the granting of pardon will surely stoke further debate on the issue of justice against the powers vested in the executive branch amidst the circumstances.
