DISTRICT BRIEFING

SUPERIOR COURT

Hearing on Boy Delayed; Family, Hospital Talk

A hearing scheduled for today in the case of a 12-year-old boy who was declared dead by Children's Hospital was postponed until Wednesday as attorneys for the hospital and the boy's family meet.

The parents of Motl Brody were scheduled to testify today about their son, who remains in the hospital's intensive-care unit. The hospital is asking D.C. Superior Court Judge William Jackson to affirm its judgment that the boy can be taken off life-sustaining equipment, arguing that nothing more can be done.

The boy's parents, who are Orthodox Jews from Brooklyn, don't want the hospital to remove life support because their faith does not define death based on absence of brain activity.

In an e-mailed statement, the hospital said that "due to the evolving nature of this situation, Children's National and the Brody family have jointly requested a postponement of the hearing. We remain hopeful that we can come to a resolution out of court."

-- Keith L. Alexander

GEORGETOWN ASSAULT

Teenager Pleads Guilty In Attack on Gay Man

Federal prosecutors say a 19-year-old Alexandria man has pleaded guilty in an attack on a gay man in Georgetown.

Ruddad Abdulgader of the 1400 block of North Beauregard Street pleaded guilty yesterday to two counts, including felony assault with bias intent. He faces as much as 5 1/2 years in prison when he is sentenced in February.

Abdulgader and another man confronted the victim and his friend Oct. 3. The men used several anti-gay epithets, and the victim and his friend tried to leave. Prosecutors say Abdulgader struck the victim in the head with a glass bottle, knocking him unconscious.

-- Staff and wire reports