D.C. man convicted of assaulting gay man sentenced to 18 months

A D.C. Superior Court judge on Tuesday handed down a sentence of 18 months of incarceration for a man convicted of Assault with Significant Bodily Injury for fracturing the nose and breaking several teeth of a gay man while shouting anti-gay slurs during a May 2022 attack near Logan Circle.

Judge Lynn Leibovitz also sentenced the man charged in the case, D.C. resident Anthony Duncan, 42, to three years of supervised release after he completes his prison term and ordered him to pay a fine of $100 for the Victim of Violent Crime Compensation Act program.

Court records show Leibovitz gave Duncan until May 9, 2025, to pay the fine.

The sentencing took place two and a half months after a Superior Court jury on Feb. 27, at the conclusion of Duncan’s trial, found him guilty of the assault charge but not guilty of committing the assault as a hate crime based on the victim’s sexual orientation.

During the May 9 sentencing hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jared English, the lead prosecutor in the case, pointed to charging documents alleging that the attack against the victim was unprovoked and was clearly linked to Duncan’s display of hatred toward the victim based on his perceived sexual orientation.

In a written sentencing memorandum that English filed in court, the prosecutor pointed out that under legal precedent, the judge could still take into consideration Duncan’s homophobic action in considering the sentence, even though a jury acquitted him on the charge of committing a hate crime.

An arrest affidavit filed by police and prosecutors at the time of Duncan’s arrest says the victim “was wearing a Stonewall Bocce shirt, which is a well-known LGBTQ sports league” at the time Duncan allegedly confronted him as the two men crossed paths while walking along 15th Street, N.W., at the intersection of V Street at about 4:50 p.m. on May 21, 2022.

Charging documents say Duncan allegedly punched the victim in the face and head, fracturing the victim’s nose in several places and breaking three of the victim’s teeth while shouting the words “fag” and “faggot.” He was taken by ambulance to a hospital for emergency treatment, court records show.

Quo Mieko Judkins, Duncan’s attorney, argued during the sentencing hearing that Duncan became angry during the incident, which she says Duncan believes was a fight, when the victim allegedly touched himself in a way that Duncan interpreted as a provocation.

Police charging documents quote Duncan as claiming at the time of his arrest that the victim “grabbed his nuts at me,” which police interpreted to mean he accused the victim of making a sexual gesture toward him.

The charging documents say the victim strongly disputed that assertion, saying he attempted to walk away from Duncan after Duncan began calling him a “faggot” and punched him in the back of his head.

In a development that LGBTQ activists have said further confirmed Duncan’s hostile motive, the charging documents say Duncan used his phone to make a video recording of his assault of the victim, which police obtained and used as evidence. One of the charging documents says Duncan can be heard on the recording yelling the word “fag” as he assaulted the victim.

Judkins asked Leibovitz to hand down a sentence that did not include incarceration or a sentence of 180 days at most. She said Duncan had a troubled childhood that led to some earlier convictions, as English pointed out, but that since the time of his arrest in this case he has started his own business with a working website. He is productive in his community, Judkins said.

“The defendant was offended by a gesture of the complainant,” Judkins told the judge. “This was not completely unprovoked,” she said. “There was something that set this off. I’m not saying this was right,” Judkins argued.

Leibovitz disputed that argument before handing down her sentence. She said it was “not reasonable” for Duncan to have punched the victim with a metal object in his hand, referring to charging documents that said Duncan was holding a metal object at the time of the attack.

“He made angry, homophobic statements,” Leibovitz said, adding that the victim may have adjusted his pants in the area of his private parts, but that did not justify Duncan committing an assault.

“This was unprovoked,” Leibovitz said.

Duncan had been released pending his trial and sentencing shortly after the time he was arrested.

Immediately after Leibovitz handed down her sentence of 18 months incarceration at Tuesday’s sentencing hearing, two U.S. Marshals placed Duncan in handcuffs and escorted him out of the courtroom as his sentence was to begin at that time.

Before handing down her sentence, Leibovitz said she had read a community impact statement submitted by the victim, who did not attend the sentencing hearing, and an impact statement by at least one LGBTQ organization, the D.C. Advisory Neighborhood Commissions’ Rainbow Caucus, which consists of LGBTQ ANC commissioners.

“The effect this case has had on the LGBT community in the District of Columbia cannot be understated — rising violence scares all Washingtonians, but attacks against LGBT individuals scares other LGBT people even more so,” the Rainbow Caucus impact statement says.

“In this particular case, the assailant recorded his crime for future purposes — including possibly celebrating it publicly and taunting and terrorizing other gay people,” the statement continues.

“Your Honor, calling someone homophobic slurs is one thing and it is something that all LGBT individuals experience,” the statement says, adding that going on to break the victim’s nose and three of his teeth “takes this crime to an entirely new and terrifying level for our community.”

It calls on Leibovitz to “take the fears of the broader LGBT community into account in sentencing and acknowledging this attack’s impact not just on the victim, but on his entire community.”