The mother of Karon Hylton-Brown — the 20-year-old father who was killed in a 2020 crash while being chased by D.C. police — has been found not guilty of assaulting a U.S. marshal in a federal courtroom.
Karen Hylton was in arrested in May 2023, immediately after two D.C. police officers were convicted in the death of her son. Shortly after the verdict, Hylton yelled at, cursed at, and physically struggled with marshals.
Thursday, after a four-day trial, a jury found Hylton not guilty of assaulting a federal law enforcement officer. The federal violation carries a maximum eight-year prison sentence.
In May, Terence Sutton was found guilty of second-degree murder, conspiracy to obstruct justice and obstruction of justice. Lt. Andrew Zabavsky was found guilty of conspiracy to obstruct justice and obstruction of justice in the death of Karon Hylton-Brown.
Hylton-Brown was riding a rental scooter with no helmet on a sidewalk — both traffic violations — in the 400 block of Kennedy Street in Northwest on the night of Oct. 23, 2020, when officers tried to stop him.
He didn’t stop and the officers chased him for more than three minutes, covering 10 blocks. D.C. police can’t pursue a vehicle if the only reason is to make a traffic stop. Hylton-Brown drove out of an alley in the 700 block of Kennedy Street and was hit by a passing van heading down Kennedy Street. He later died in a hospital.
The criminal complaint against Karen Hylton accused her of charging toward the marshal, aggressively chest-bumping him, then lunging at him and violently pushing him with both hands. The complaint said the push caused the officer to fall back onto a bench.
During the two-day jury trial, two U.S. marshals — Chief Deputy Aaron Smith and Deputy Michael Dito — testified for the prosecution. Hylton took the stand in her own defense — the sole defense witness.
After a few hours of deliberation, jurors found Hylton not guilty.
The verdict was first reported by NBC 4.
