Two juveniles charged in the attack of former Department of Government Efficiency staffer Edward Coristine will be held in custody at the District of Columbia’s Youth Services Center after a request to move them was denied.
Judge Kendra Davis Briggs, a Biden-nominated associate judge for the D.C. Superior Court, denied the two Maryland juveniles’ requests for less restrictive detention conditions, according to the Washington Post.
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The hearing follows the attack and carjacking targeting Coristine, 19, who goes by “Big Balls”, and Emily Bryant, his “significant other,” according to the filed police report of the incident. The carjacking occurred at 3:01 a.m. on Aug. 3 on the 1400 block of Swann Street NW.
Briggs presided over Monday’s hearing following President Donald Trump’s press conference in which he declared a “crime emergency” in Washington, federalized the Metropolitan Police Department, and mobilized the D.C. National Guard. Trump, who has repeatedly floated threats of federalizing the capital city, amped up his rhetoric against D.C. home rule after the attack against Coristine.
“Crime in Washington, D.C., is totally out of control,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Aug. 5, which included an apparent photo of Coristine after the attack. “Local ‘youths’ and gang members, some only 14, 15, and 16-years-old, are randomly attacking, mugging, maiming, and shooting innocent Citizens, at the same time knowing that they will be almost immediately released. The most recent victim was beaten mercilessly by local thugs.”
Metro police officers observed a group of about 10 youths who surrounded and began “assaulting” Coristine, while Bryant remained in Coristine’s vehicle parked on Swann Street, according to the police report. Coristine told officers in the report that leading up to the attack, “he saw the suspects approach and make a comment about taking the vehicle”. The police officer apprehended two suspects, whom Coristine and Bryant positively identified, while the other juveniles fled on foot.
The two 15-year-olds arrested by the officers appeared in court at the hearing on Monday, according to the Washington Post. The attorney for the juvenile girl requested a lesser detention level as she said there was no compelling evidence her client was one of Coristine’s attackers, though she was in the area. The attorney for the juvenile boy also requested a different detention, asking for his client to be put in a shelter house.
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The D.C. Superior Court declined to comment on Briggs’s decision as the case is a juvenile case and therefore confidential in the D.C. Superior Court Family Court Division.
D.C.’s Youth Services Center, where the two juveniles are reported to be held, is the district’s 88-bed youth detention center with an on-site youth education program through the Maya Angelou Academy and provides around-the-clock care for detainees, according to the D.C. Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services website.