A Washington, D.C., judge rejected a controversial local law that could have softened a repeat offender's sentence for a violent carjacking spree, the latest in a string of wins for U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro's tougher approach to D.C. crime.

D.C. Superior Court Judge Andrea Herzfeld sentenced 22-year-old Dartanian Owens to 13.5 years in prison for carjacking, robbery, possessing a firearm during a violent crime, and carrying a pistol without a license. Owens had been eligible for lighter treatment under D.C.'s Youth Rehabilitation Act of 2018, a law passed by the D.C. Council that allows certain defendants to receive reduced sentences based on their age. Herzfeld sided with Pirro's office and imposed the tougher sentence instead.

The sentencing, announced by the DOJ on August 25, 2026, caps a case rooted in a three-day armed crime spree across the nation's capital. Between April 6 and April 8, 2025, Owens used a gun to steal a DoorDash delivery driver's car, then used that vehicle to commit three more armed robberies in Northeast and Southeast Washington. His victims included a person waiting at a bus stop, a pedestrian walking to a Metro station, and someone waiting for an Uber to get to a doctor's appointment.

Owens was no stranger to the system, or to the very law his defense hoped would shield him again. Court records show he received Youth Rehabilitation Act sentences twice before: once in 2022 for simple assault, theft, unlawful entry, and property destruction, and again in 2023 for attempting to illegally carry a gun with ammunition. Neither sentence stopped him from escalating to armed carjacking.

Pirro's office racks up six judicial rejections of the Youth Rehabilitation Act

Herzfeld's decision fits a broader pattern. Between August 2025 and April 2026, five other defendants had their requests for Youth Rehabilitation Act sentencing rejected by D.C. judges, according to DOJ statements. Four of those five were carjackers. The fifth was an armed robber who targeted a 72-year-old man.

Pirro, who was appointed by President Trump and went from interim to official U.S. attorney in August 2025, has made challenging the Youth Rehabilitation Act a centerpiece of her tenure. Her office has pushed judges to impose sentences that match the severity of the crimes, rather than deferring to a law she views as dangerously lenient. She previously told the Washington Examiner that her office increased prosecutions by 67% since she took the post.

The push for accountability in the capital has extended well beyond Pirro's courtroom battles. Federal law enforcement has also pursued charges in cases involving vandalism at iconic D.C. landmarks, signaling a broader willingness to crack down on lawlessness in the city.

But the wins are not a perfect streak. Judges have granted Youth Rehabilitation Act sentences in other cases over the objections of Pirro's prosecutors. The exact number of those losses is not publicly available.

D.C.'s youth sentencing law gave 60% of eligible defendants lighter treatment

The Youth Rehabilitation Act of 2018 was designed to give younger defendants a second chance. In practice, it became a revolving door. A D.C. Criminal Justice Coordinating Council analysis found that between 2019 and 2020, courts imposed Youth Rehabilitation Act sentences on 60% of eligible defendants, declining them for only 40%.

Owens's own record illustrates the problem. He received the benefit of the law twice, in 2022 and 2023, for offenses that included assault, theft, and illegally carrying a loaded gun. Within two years of his second lenient sentence, he was carjacking people at gunpoint across the city. The law that was supposed to rehabilitate him gave him room to graduate to more dangerous crimes.

Pirro has been blunt about what she sees as the law's failures. In August 2025, she pointed to the case of Javarry Peaks, a teenager who shot a person in the chest on a Metrobus in March 2025 and received probation with no jail time. Pirro described the outcome in stark terms:

"I convict someone of shooting another person with an illegal gun on a public bus in the chest [with] intent to kill. What does the judge give him? Probation, says that you should go to college. We need to go after the D.C. Council and their absurd laws."

She has also highlighted the limits of her authority when it comes to the youngest offenders. In the same set of remarks, Pirro said plainly:

"I can't touch you if you're 14, 15, 16 [or] 17 years old and you have a gun."

That frustration carries weight when set against the scale of juvenile crime in the capital. NBC4 Washington reported that juveniles were linked to approximately 60% of carjackings in D.C. as of 2025, a figure that undercuts any argument that the Youth Rehabilitation Act is solving the problem it was created to address.

Trump's D.C. crackdown provided the backdrop for Pirro's courtroom push

Pirro's aggressive posture in the courtroom has coincided with a broader federal effort. In August 2025, President Trump launched a public safety crackdown in D.C. that included National Guard patrols and increased collaboration between federal and local law enforcement. The combination of tougher prosecution and a visible federal presence marked a sharp departure from years of permissive policies in the capital.

The Justice Department has pursued serious cases across the board in Washington. Recent months have seen federal charges in matters ranging from a sentencing tied to a plot against a senior government official to prosecutions involving threats against federal leaders.

Owens's attorney did not respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner. No statement from the defense has been made public.

The Owens case also lands at a moment when courts in the capital are handling an unusually charged docket. A federal judge recently paused the trial of a man accused of attempting to assassinate the president, and a woman faces felony charges for spray-painting the World War II Memorial. Across the board, federal prosecutors are signaling that lawlessness in the nation's capital will carry real consequences.

The D.C. Council passed the Youth Rehabilitation Act with good intentions. But when a man can receive lenient sentences for assault, theft, and carrying a loaded gun, and then move on to armed carjacking within two years, the law is not rehabilitating anyone. It is granting permission slips for escalation, and the people paying the price are DoorDash drivers, bus riders, and ordinary residents who just want to get to a doctor's appointment without staring down a gun barrel.