Edward Coristine, the young engineer known as “Big Balls” who previously worked for the Department of Government Efficiency, was beaten to a pulp by a group of 10 young suspects during an attempted carjacking on Aug. 3 in the national capital.
One week after a Biden-nominated judge cut two of the attackers loose and spared them from jail time, the Trump Justice Department announced charges against another pair of suspects.
Background
After the attack, during which Coristine stood his ground and defended his girlfriend, police apprehended two suspects at the scene — a 15-year-old male and a 15-year-old female of Hyattsville, Maryland — and charged both with unarmed carjacking.
‘We’re not going to be happy until we get every person who was involved.’
While the attack was so savage as to prompt President Donald Trump to federalize the Metropolitan Police Department and deploy the National Guard, Kendra Briggs, a Biden-nominated associate judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, treated two of the attackers with kid gloves.
First, Briggs decided it wasn’t worth keeping the thugs in custody, telling one of Coristine’s attackers, “I don’t want to put hardship on your family.”
After instructing both thugs to refrain from possessing weapons or entering into other people’s vehicles unless they have permission from the owners, Briggs directed the male attacker to hang out at his mother’s home and the female attacker to move from the secure Youth Services Center to a youth shelter house.
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Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images
Obliging the request by prosecutors last week, Briggs decided ultimately not to incarcerate the two attackers.
The male attacker, who pleaded guilty to four counts related to a robbery and the separate beating of Coristine, received one year of probation. The female attacker, who pleaded guilty to a count of simple assault for pepper-spraying someone during the robbery, was sentenced to nine months of probation.
Briggs emphasized that the goal of juvenile court was “rehabilitation, not punishment.”
“To this day, they’ve only caught two out of the ten. Eight of them remain on the street. That night could’ve gone far differently. Think of your daughters and mothers. The same group attacked people before and after us, breaking ribs and stomping heads,” Coristine noted last week. “This senseless crime must be stopped.”
Another two
The Trump DOJ revealed on Monday that it was charging two more teens in connection with the attack on Coristine and the corresponding attempted carjacking.
Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, indicated that Laurence Cotton-Powell, 19, and Anthony Taylor, 18, face charges including assault with intent to commit robbery and robbery — not only in connection with the attack on Coristine but in connection with a separate attack on another individual just minutes earlier at a nearby gas station.
Whereas Taylor, a teen from Maryland, has no known criminal history, Cotton-Powell is apparently a seasoned thug who has benefited from bleeding hearts in the judiciary.
Pirro claimed that despite committing crimes while on probation for a previous felony conviction, Cotton-Powell was nevertheless free to attack Coristine and Ethan Levine, the second victim who was stomped ruthlessly by a mob of thugs, because of the leniency of the D.C. Superior Court.
“On April 3 of this year, Laurence Cotton-Powell was sentenced for a felony attempted robbery. My office asked for jail time. Judge [Carmen] McLean, a judge sitting in the criminal part in Superior Court with no criminal background, made a decision to give Cotton-Powell probation in spite of his conviction on a felony attempted robbery,” said Pirro. “Within 31 days, by May 4, Powell reoffends. He’s re-arrested while he’s on probation from the felony, and he’s charged with simple assault and possession of a prohibited weapon B.”
Pirro indicated that the court subsequently refused her office’s request to revoke the thug’s bail and released Cotton-Powell. Although Cotton-Powell was later sentenced, “on July 25, another judge suspends his sentence and decides that he should be on probation,” said the attorney.
“So after a felony of attempted robbery conviction, after a violation of probation, after a second crime, after a second conviction, after no compliance with [the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency], the judges say, ‘Do better,’ and they let him go,” said Pirro. “And guess what? Within 10 days, he’s at it again with Ethan Levine and Edward Coristine.”
Pirro credited the Metropolitan Police Department with going above and and beyond to track down suspects Taylor and Cotton-Powell.
MPD Chief Pamela Smith said, “These arrests send a very strong message to our community: If you commit violent acts in our community, you will be found, you will be held accountable, and you will face justice.”
“We’re not going to be happy until we get every person who was involved in the assault on these two individuals,” said Pirro.
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Jeanine pirro, Department of justice, Justice department, Doj, Crime, Thug, Violence, Edward coristine, Big balls, Judge, Judges, Dc, Politics
