One of two teenagers recently arrested for the savage assault of two men, including a former DOGE staffer nicknamed ‘Big Balls,’ was already on probation after a light sentence by an Obama judge.
Laurence Cotton-Powell, 19, and Anthony Taylor, 18, were arrested last week for attempted carjacking, robbery and assault after going on a crime spree culminating with the vicious beating of two men.
Cotton-Powell, however, had previous run-ins with law enforcement, US Attorney for DC Jeanine Pirro revealed on Monday.
The 19-year-old was arrested for felony attempted robbery and was released in April by D.C. Superior Court Judge Carmen McLean, an appointee of former President Barack Obama.
In May, he was arrested again for simple assault. Despite Pirro team asking for him to be incarcerated, Cotton-Powell was allowed to roam free.
He was put on probation in July, just eight days before he allegedly attacked Coristine and another man.
‘We are leaving no stone unturned to bring to justice criminals who perpetrate random, unprovoked, and brutal attacks on people who are unlucky enough to be in their path,’ Pirro said in a statement.
D.C. famously has lenient criminal laws, including the Youth Rehabilitation Act, which allows alternative sentences for offenders under the age of 25. The rule, which has been criticized, enables judges to suspend sentences, give probation and more. Proponents, meanwhile, have argued the law helps restore wayward youngsters.
Trump announced his DC crime crackdown shortly after former DOGE staffer Edward Coristine was beat up during an attempted carjacking in the district in early August. Four teenagers have been arrested so far in the case, two additional arrests were announced this week
Footage of the teens attacking a man
Images of Anthony Taylor
Former DOGE worker Edward Coristine, 19, sometimes known as his high school moniker ‘Big Balls,’ was beaten by about ten individuals at 3 am on August 3.
Cotton-Powell and Taylor, and a large group of unidentified individuals, assaulted a man at a gas station just minutes before approaching Coristine and his date, Pirro’s office shared.
According to police, both Taylor and Cotton-Powell were photographed near the site of the alleged DOGE staffer beating just hours after the fight. Images show them smirking at the cameras.
‘Cotton-Powell allegedly stomped on the victim’s head, and Taylor participated in the assault,’ the office said in a press release. ‘The victim briefly escaped, but group members followed and knocked him to the ground and continued their attack. They robbed the victim of his watch and one of his shoes.’
Less than ten minutes later, the duo and their group attempted to carjack Coristine and his date.
The woman Coristine was defending from the hoard of violent kids was able to get into the vehicle and lock it before the youths allegedly began banging on the car and trying to gain entry and take the key, according US District Attorney for DC.
Images of Coristine with blood strewn across his body and clothes quickly went viral online after the attack, in part, leading to President Donald Trump’s use of the National Guard in the district to tackle crime.
Both Cotton-Powell and Taylor admitted to authorities that they participated in both the gas station assault and the attack on the former DOGE staffer.
Images of Laurence Cotton-Powell
Coristine’s beating was mentioned repeatedly by President Trump when he announced his D.C. crime crackdown, which included deploying the National Guard
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro speaks during a press conference to provide an update on the latest arrest in the assault of former DOGE staffer Edward Coristine, at the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., October 20, 2025
Last week, a boy and a girl, both 15, were arrested, charged, and sentenced to probation for taking part in the beating.
President Donald Trump noted at the time it was a ‘terrible’ decision by the judge not to imprison the 15-year-olds.
‘I think the judge should be ashamed of himself, Trump told reporters while sitting in the Oval Office.
Coristine’s beating deeply moved the president, who mentioned the former DOGE staffer on social media while suggesting changes to D.C. to lessen crime, such as lowering the age needed for youths to be tried as adults.
Since Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in D.C. to tackle crime, local police stats show a meaningful drop in violent incidents.
The success has been so drastic that the Democrat-led city has embraced the Republican president’s National Guard deployment. City leaders approved an extension of the troops’ deployment earlier this year, and they are expected to stick around until at least the end of November.
Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith also celebrated the teenager’s arrest
However, there are currently plans to extend the National Guard’s orders to stay in D.C. until late next year.
Interim commander of the D.C. National Guard General Leland Blanchard said in a September 17, 2025 message to generals from other states that he instructed National Guard forces currently in the District to ‘work quickly toward ‘wintering’ our formation.’
Blanchard later said the troops may stick around until America’s 250th birthday celebrations in the district next summer.
‘That will be a factor in determining the future of the mission,’ he wrote of the upcoming celebration of the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence.
Blanchard’s correspondence was included in a Friday court filing in D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb’s case against the Trump administration, arguing for the end of National Guard presence in the District.
