Two teenage suspects whose assault on a former Trump administration engineer made national headlines avoided jail time and were sentenced to probation.
Edward Coristine, whose nickname is “Big Balls,” was defending his girlfriend from a group of about 10 juveniles when they turned on him and viciously beat him in August. He worked as a software engineer at the Department of Government Efficiency.
‘Think of your daughters and mothers. The same group attacked people before and after us, breaking ribs and stomping heads. This senseless crime must be stopped.’
The incident was cited by President Donald Trump as evidence that federal troops needed to be sent into Washington, D.C., in order to help law enforcement officials quell criminal violence. The president shared a photo of Coristine bloodied and beaten up after the incident.
Prosecutors called for neither 15-year-old to be incarcerated, and the judge respected that wish.
The teenage boy pleaded guilty to four counts related to a robbery and the separate beating of Coristine and received a year of probation. The girl received nine months of probation after pleading guilty to a count of simple assault for pepper-spraying someone during the robbery.
None of the other juveniles involved in the attack have been charged.
Judge Kendra D. Briggs told the two in D.C. Superior Court on Tuesday that the goal of juvenile court was “rehabilitation, not punishment,” during the court hearing.
“I know you are not unfamiliar [with] trauma,” Briggs said to the girl. “I don’t disagree that the trauma you’ve already suffered in life is kind of how you ended up on U Street that day. But I think you also have to think about the trauma that you’re inflicting on others when you engage in the activities that you all chose to engage in a couple of months ago.”
The teenagers also have to complete 90 hours of community service and adhere to several behavioral restrictions, including drug testing.
Coristine responded to the sentencing on social media.
“To this day, they’ve only caught two out of the ten. Eight of them remain on the street,” he said.
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“That night could’ve gone far differently,” Coristine continued. “Think of your daughters and mothers. The same group attacked people before and after us, breaking ribs and stomping heads. This senseless crime must be stopped.”
Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah also responded on social media.
“If these charges (against the teenagers who brutally beat Big Balls) had been brought in federal district court, the sentence would have been … very different,” Lee wrote. “But they weren’t, so they got a mild slap on the wrist.”
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