District of Columbia
Plea deal for D.C. man charged with attack on gay Asian man, parents
U.S. Attorney offers to drop two of three hate crime designations
Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office have offered to lower two assault charges from a felony to a misdemeanor and to drop a bias-related crime designation for two of three assault charges pending against a D.C. man arrested for the Aug. 7, 2021, hate crime attack against gay Asian man Sean Lai and his parents in Northwest Washington.
According to a document filed on March 4 in D.C. Superior Court, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which serves as the lead prosecutor in most adult criminal cases in D.C., offered to lower the charges against Patrick Joseph Miller Trebat, 39, in exchange for his agreement to plead guilty to the reduced charges.
Court records show that the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Trebat’s attorney, Brandi Harden, are in “negotiations” presumably over the plea offer, with a felony status hearing scheduled for April 20. D.C. Superior Court Judge Michael O’Keefe, who is presiding over the case, was expected to ask the two parties at the April 20 hearing if an agreement over the plea deal has been reached.
The March 4 document filed in court by the U.S. Attorney’s Office disclosing the plea offer says the offer will expire on April 1, 2022.
Charging documents filed by D.C. police and the U.S. Attorney’s Office at the time of Trebat’s arrest last August state that Trebat allegedly attacked and assaulted Lai, an out gay man of Chinese ancestry, and his parents, who are also from China, while they were walking along the 3700 block of Fulton Street, N.W., near where they live.
The charging documents and a detailed arrest affidavit state that Sean Lai told D.C. police, who arrived on the scene as the incident was unfolding, that during the alleged attack Trebat called him and his parents, “faggots” and shouted, “You are not Americans!” A police report says Trebat also shouted, “Get out of my country.”
According to the police report, the family of three was transported to a local hospital for treatment of injuries listed as non-life threatening shortly after police arrested Trebat on the scene. The report and other charging documents say Trebat allegedly punched, kicked, and pushed all three family members, who at one point fell to the ground, causing various injuries.
Trebat, who lives in a Northwest D.C. apartment located near the scene of the attack, was released pending trial three days after his arrest under the court’s high intensity release program. The program imposed a nighttime curfew on Trebat and a strict order to stay away from the three people he is charged with assaulting.
The current charges pending against him include two counts of felony assault with significant bodily injury and one count of misdemeanor simple assault. Each of the three counts is designated with a bias-related enhancement based on the Asian “national origin” status of the victims.
For reasons it has declined to disclose, the U.S. Attorney’s Office chose not to include a sexual orientation bias-related designation for the assault charges filed against Trebat, even though the arrest affidavit states Trebat shouted the word “faggot” at Lai and his parents.
According to its March 4 plea bargain offer, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, in exchange for a guilty plea by Trebat, will lower the two felony counts of assault with significant bodily injury to misdemeanor counts of simple assault. The offer would retain the existing single count of simple assault.
Under the D.C. Criminal Code, assault with significant bodily harm carries a maximum sentence upon conviction of three years in prison and a possible fine of $12,500. Simple assault carries a maximum sentence of 180 days in prison and a $1,000 fine.
The plea offer for Trebat also calls for withdrawing the bias-related designation for the simple assault counts pertaining to Lai and his mother while leaving just one bias-related count for the alleged assault against Lai’s father.
Under D.C.’s Bias Related Crimes Act, the conviction of a person charged with a crime with a bias-related enhancement allows a judge to increase the penalty, including a fine or jail sentence, by one-and-a-half times greater than the maximum penalty of the underlying crime such as assault.
One other provision in the plea offer gives prosecutors the option of asking the judge to order Trebat held in jail from the time he pleads guilty to the lower charges to the date when he is sentenced, which usually takes place a month or two after the plea is accepted. Another final provision says prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office are not including in the plea offer a promise to ask the judge to limit the length or severity of the sentence.
Lai couldn’t immediately be reached for comment to obtain his and his parents’ reaction to the plea offer. Harden, Trebat’s attorney, did not respond to a phone message from the Blade asking whether Trebat will agree to the plea offer.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office has a longstanding policy of not publicly disclosing its reasons for offering plea bargain deals to people charged with various crimes. Local attorneys practicing criminal law, including D.C. Attorney Jamison Koehler, have said prosecutors sometimes issue plea bargain offers if they believe there is a chance that a jury will find a defendant they are prosecuting not guilty in a trial.
A plea offer that is accepted by a defendant ensures that the defendant will at least be convicted of an offense, even if the charge is reduced, and eliminates the possibility of a complete acquittal by a jury, according to Koehler and other attorneys familiar with the criminal justice system.
District of Columbia
Capital Pride announces change in date for 2026 D.C. Pride parade and festival
Events related to U.S. 250th anniversary and Trump birthday cited as reasons for change
The Capital Pride Alliance, the D.C. based group that organizes the city’s annual LGBTQ Pride events, has announced it is changing the dates for the 2026 Capital Pride Parade and Festival from the second weekend in June to the third weekend.
“For over a decade, Capital Pride has taken place during the second weekend in June, but in 2026, we are shifting our dates in response to the city’s capacity due to major events and preparations for the 250th anniversary of the United States,” according to a Dec. 9 statement released by Capital Pride Alliance.
The statement says the parade will take place on Saturday, June 20, 2026, with the festival and related concert taking place on June 21.
“This change ensures our community can gather safely and without unnecessary barriers,” the statement says. “By moving the celebration, we are protecting our space and preserving Pride as a powerful act of visibility, solidarity, and resistance,” it says.
Ryan Bos, the Capital Pride Alliance CEO and President, told the Washington Blade the change in dates came after the group conferred with D.C. government officials regarding plans for a number of events in the city on the second weekend in June. Among them, he noted, is a planned White House celebration of President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday and other events related to the U.S. 250th anniversary, which are expected to take place from early June through Independence Day on July 4.
The White House has announced plans for a large June 14, 2026 celebration on the White House south lawn of Trump’s 80th birthday that will include a large-scale Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event involving boxing and wrestling competition.
Bos said the Capital Pride Parade will take place along the same route it has in the past number of years, starting at 14th and T Streets, N.W. and traveling along 14th Street to Pennsylvania Ave., where it will end. He said the festival set for the following day will also take place at its usual location on Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., between 2nd Street near the U.S. Capitol, to around 7th Street, N.W.
“Our Pride events thrive because of the passion and support of the community,” Capital Pride Board Chair Anna Jinkerson said in the statement. “In 2026, your involvement is more important than ever,” she said.
District of Columbia
Three women elected leaders of Capital Pride Alliance board
Restructured body includes chair rather than president as top leader
The Capital Pride Alliance, the D.C.-based group that organizes the city’s annual LGBTQ Pride events, announced it has restructured its board of directors and elected for the first time three women to serve as leaders of the board’s Executive Committee.
“Congratulations to our newly elected Executive Officers, making history as Capital Pride Alliance’s first all-women Board leadership,” the group said in a statement.
“As we head into 2026 with a bold new leadership structure, we’re proud to welcome Anna Jinkerson as Board Chair, Kim Baker as Board Treasurer, and Taylor Lianne Chandler as Board Secretary,” the statement says.
In a separate statement released on Nov. 20, Capital Pride Alliance says the restructured Board now includes the top leadership posts of Chair, Treasurer, and Secretary, replacing the previous structure of President and Vice President as the top board leaders.
It says an additional update to the leadership structure includes a change in title for longtime Capital Pride official Ryan Bos from executive director to chief executive officer and president.
According to the statement, June Crenshaw, who served as acting deputy director during the time the group organized WorldPride 2025 in D.C., will now continue in that role as permanent deputy director.
The statement provides background information on the three newly elected women Board leaders.
• Anna Jinkerson (chair), who joined the Capital Pride Alliance board in 2022, previously served as the group’s vice president for operations and acting president. “A seasoned non-profit executive, she currently serves as Assistant to the President and CEO and Chief of Staff at Living Cities, a national member collaborative of leading philanthropic foundations and financial institutions committed to closing income and wealth gaps in the United States and building an economy that works for everyone.”
• Kim Baker (treasurer) is a “biracial Filipino American and queer leader,” a “retired, disabled U.S. Army veteran with more than 20 years of service and extensive experience in finance, security, and risk management.” She has served on the Capital Pride Board since 2018, “bringing a proven track record of steady, principled leadership and unwavering dedication to the LGBTQ+ community.”
• Taylor Lianne Chandler (Secretary) is a former sign language interpreter and crisis management consultant. She “takes office as the first intersex and trans-identifying member of the Executive Committee.” She joined the Capital Pride Board in 2019 and previously served as executive producer from 2016 to 2018.
Bos told the Washington Blade in a Dec. 2 interview that the Capital Pride board currently has 12 members, and is in the process of interviewing additional potential board members.
“In January we will be announcing in another likely press release the full board,” Bos said. “We are finishing the interview process of new board members this month,” he said. “And they will take office to join the board in January.”
Bos said the organization’s rules set a cap of 25 total board members, but the board, which elects its members, has not yet decided how many additional members it will select and a full 25-member board is not required.
The Nov. 20 Capital Pride statement says the new board executive members will succeed the organization’s previous leadership team, which included Ashley Smith, who served as president for eight years before he resigned earlier this year; Anthony Musa, who served for seven years as vice president of board engagement; Natalie Thompson, who served eight years on the executive committee; and Vince Micone, who served for eight years as vice president of operations.
“I am grateful for the leadership, dedication, and commitment shown by our former executive officers — Ashley, Natalie, Anthony, and Vince — who have been instrumental in CPA’s growth and the exceptional success of WorldPride 2025,” Bos said in the statement.
“I look forward to collaborating with Anna in her new role, as well as Kim and Taylor in theirs, as we take on the important work ahead, prepare for Capital Pride 2026, and expand our platform and voice through Pride365,” Bos said.
District of Columbia
D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith to step down Dec. 31
Cites plans to spend more time with family after 28 years in law enforcement
In a surprise statement on Dec. 8, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced that D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith will step down from her job on Dec. 31 after a little over two years as the city’s police chief.
In August of 2023, after Bowser named Smith as Acting Chief shortly before the D.C. Council approved her nomination as permanent chief, she told the Washington Blade in an interview she was committed to providing “fair and equal treatment” for all of the city’s diverse communities, especially the LGBTQ community.
She pointed out that in her role as the department’s Chief Equity Officer before she was appointed chief, she worked in support of what she said was the significant number of LGBTQ police officers serving in the department and also worked closely with the department’s LGBTQ Liaison Unit.
“We also have LGBTQ members serving in the reserve and volunteer corps supporting many functions in the department, including support for the LGBTQ Liaison Unit,” she told the Blade. “We have a nationally recognized LGBTQ Liaison Unit.”
Bowser’s statement announcing Smith’s resignation praised Smith for playing a lead role in significantly lowering the city’s crime rate.
“Chief Smith dramatically drove down violent crime, drove down the homicide rate to its lowest levels in eight years, and helped us restore a sense of safety and accountability in our neighborhoods,” the mayor said in her statement. “We are grateful for her service to Washington, D.C.”
Bowser’s statement did not provide a reason for Smith’s decision to step down at this time. But in a Monday morning interview with D.C.’s Fox 5 TV, Smith said she was stepping down to spend more time with her family based in Arkansas.
“After 28 years in law enforcement I have been going nonstop,” she told Fox 5. “I have missed many amazing celebrations, birthdays, marriages, you name it, within our family,” she said. “Being able to come home for Thanksgiving two years after my mom passed really resonated with me,” she added in referring to her family visit in Arkansas for Thanksgiving last month.
Smith said she plans to remain a D.C.-area resident following her departure as police chief. Bowser said later in the day on Dec. 8 that she needs some time to decide who she will name as the next D.C. police chief and that she would begin her search within the MPD.
Smith served for 24 years in high-level positions with the U.S. Park Police, including as Park Police Chief in the D.C. area, before joining D.C. police as Chief Equity Officer in 2021. A short time later she was named an assistant chief for homeland security before Bowser nominated her as Police Chief in 2023 and installed her as acting chief before the D.C. Council confirmed her as chief.
She became D.C. police chief at a time when homicides and violent crime in general were at a record high in the years following the pandemic. Although Bowser and Smith have pointed to the significant drop in homicides through 2024 and 2025, Smith was hit with President Donald Trump’s decision in August of this year to order a temporary federal takeover of the D.C. Police Department and to send National Guard Troops to patrol D.C. streets on grounds, according to Trump, that the D.C. crime rate was “out of control.”
Both Bowser and Smith have come under criticism from some local activists and members of the D.C. Council for not speaking out more forcefully against the Trump intervention into D.C. law enforcement, especially over what critics have said appeared to be D.C. police cooperation with federal immigration agents sent in by the Trump administration.
During a mayoral End of Year Situational Update event called by Bowser on Dec. 8, shortly after announcing Smith’s resignation, both Bowser and Smith said they cooperated with federal law enforcement officials to a certain degree as part of the city’s longstanding practice of cooperating with federal law enforcement agencies since long before Trump became president.
“We are currently on pace to be at the lowest number of homicides in over eight years,” Smith told those attending the event held at the D.C. Department of Health’s offices. “To date, homicides are down 51 percent compared to 2023, and we are down 30 percent compared to the same time last year,” she said.
She also noted that homicide detectives have been closing murder cases by arranging for arrests at a significantly higher rate in the past two years.
In her 2023 interview with the Blade, Smith said she would continue what she called the department’s aggressive effort to address hate crimes at a time when the largest number of reported hate crimes in the city were targeting LGBTQ people.
“What I can say is in this department we certainly have strong policies and training to make sure members can recognize hate crimes,” Smith said. “And officers have to report whether there are any indications of a possible hate crime whenever they’re investigating or engaged in a case,” she added. “We have a multidisciplinary team that works together on reported hate crimes.”
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