A Biden-appointed judge sparked outrage Friday by releasing two teens charged in the brutal assault of former DOGE staffer Edward “Big Balls” Coristine, undercutting what President Donald Trump has hailed as his administration’s crime crackdown.
The teens, a 15-year-old boy and girl from Maryland, had been held at Washington, D.C.’s Youth Services Center since being charged in connection with an alleged carjacking and assault on August 3.
The victim, Coristine, 19, was reportedly “beaten mercilessly,” prompting Trump to post a bloodied photo of him on Truth Social.
Judge Kendra Briggs, appointed by former President Joe Biden, ordered the teens returned to their caretakers with strict conditions: electronic monitoring, a 24-hour curfew, and no contact with each other.
“School and home, that’s it,” Briggs told the teens during Thursday’s hearing at D.C. Superior Court. She added that an emergency hearing would be called if the conditions were violated.
The decision is certain to inflame Trump and his supporters, who have consistently emphasized the need for harsher punishments for violent offenders, per the Daily Beast.
Trump had celebrated his administration’s efforts to crack down on crime in D.C., declaring on Truth Social, “Washington D.C. will soon be great again!!!”
Right-wing commentators expressed shock and fury over the ruling. Eric Daugherty called it “irreparable harm,” writing on X, “WTF: DEI Judge Kendra Briggs, appointed by Joe Biden, RELEASED the violent youth attackers of DOGE’s Big Balls from juvenile custody in Washington DC.”
Daugherty warned that the teens would likely repeat their crimes: “Now these thugs will learn no actual lesson and go out and do it again, potentially with a weapon, and their next victim may not survive like Big Balls did.”
Gunther Eagleman demanded Briggs be removed, posting, “Meet Biden-appointed DEI Judge Kendra Briggs. This political hack has RELEASED the violent youth attackers that beat DOGE’s Big Balls from juvenile custody in DC.”
Other MAGA-aligned commentators echoed similar sentiments. Nick Sortor branded the teens “delinquents” and called for federal intervention: “They have NO BUSINESS on the streets of DC!”
The release comes amid Trump’s ongoing efforts to spotlight rising crime in the nation’s capital. He recently praised the D.C. National Guard and police for their “fantastic” performance, despite statistics showing violent crime in the city dropped to a three-decade low last year.
The White House, which declared a “crime emergency” in D.C. earlier this month, has not commented on the judge’s decision.
Meanwhile, the assault on Coristine has become a flashpoint for conservative criticism, highlighting the clash between Biden-appointed judges’ decisions and Trump’s tough-on-crime messaging.
As outrage grows online, the case is likely to become a central talking point for MAGA pundits and conservative media, framing Biden-appointed judges as lenient enablers of juvenile crime while amplifying Trump’s law-and-order narrative.
The teens remain under strict supervision, but the broader debate over juvenile crime, judicial discretion, and political influence in D.C. continues to escalate.
