Siblings charged with assaulting federal prosecutor outside DC courthouse

WASHINGTON - A brother and sister have been ordered held without bond after police said they attacked a prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney's Office and another woman outside of D.C. Superior Court.

On Thursday afternoon, Kendra Briggs had come to the courthouse to hear the verdict in the murder trial of Tyrone Hight and James Young, two men accused of killing Willard Shelton in 2014. It was a homicide case that Briggs had worked on.

When the jury returned a guilty verdict in the case, family members of the defendants became enraged and U.S. marshals were forced to clear the courtroom.

Outside of D.C. Superior Court, police said Maurice and Tiera Hight went after the daughter of Shelton. As she was being punched and spit on, Briggs jumped in to the help. Police said Maurice Hight grabbed Briggs by the hair, punched her in the face and threw her to the ground.

"The judge is holding them until Wednesday," said Christopher Davis, Maurice Hight's attorney. "They have a preventive detention hearing. Whenever you are charged with a crime of violence, they can hold onto you for up to three days at the government's request. In that time, we will go over the facts in the case to make a determination whether or not they should be released. So it's kind of a holding period. Between now and then, people will get whatever they can together before the court kind of outlining what happened."

Briggs was treated on the scene by D.C. Fire and EMS personnel. The U.S. Attorney's Office said she was transported to MedStar Washington Hospital Center.

Briggs is an assistant U.S. attorney known for prosecuting the assault case of R&B singer Chris Brown's bodyguard. She has extensive experience prosecuting murder cases as well.