John Jefferson
Inset: Reggie Brown (Brown family). Background: The alley where authorities said Brown was beaten to death by five teen girls (WJLA).
Two teen girls, 13 and 14 years old, were found guilty of kicking and stomping to death a 64-year-old disabled man they didn’t know because they were bored.
A judge in Washington, D.C., on Monday found the girls guilty of second-degree murder, assault and conspiracy to commit assault in the death of Reggie Brown. The 13-year-old girl was also found guilty of tampering with physical evidence. They face imprisonment until they are 21 years old when they are sentenced next month.
Geoffrey Harris, the attorney for the 13-year-old, said his client should have been charged only with assault, the Washington Post reported.
“She did not have any intent to kill,” Harris argued. “His death was not intentional. She was only 12 at the time. She was a follower, not a leader.”
The 14-year-old’s attorney, Victoria Clark, said her client wasn’t involved, the Post reported.
“She was not part of this,” Clark said. “The prosecutor has not proven she was part of the attack. The evidence is unreliable, untrustworthy and unacceptable.”
The case came to light on Oct. 17, 2023, when officers responded to reports of a man down in the 6200 block of Georgia Avenue Northwest, according to a press release from the Metropolitan Police Department.
Once there, first responders said they located a man — later identified as Brown — suffering from injuries “consistent with an assault.” He was declared dead at the scene.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner conducted an autopsy and determined Brown’s manner of death to be a homicide and the cause of death to be blunt force trauma to the head. The 110-pound man had lupus and had recently battled cancer, local NBC affiliate WRC reported.
Months later, the 12-year-old girl and two 13-year-olds were arrested and charged in the attack. Several months later, investigators said they discovered two more juveniles were involved.
A 15-year-old girl pleaded guilty in October to a lesser charge of assault with a dangerous weapon and was sentenced to three years in a juvenile detention facility.
As part of her plea deal, the teen was required to testify at the trial of two of her codefendants, according to a report from local CBS affiliate WUSA.
She told jurors that the five girls had been at a skate park in Maryland before returning to her home. While looking for something else to do, the juvenile witness said she suggested they go out and “find someone to beat up.”
Asked why she would suggest such a thing, the teen reportedly responded, “Because we were bored.”
While walking on Georgia Avenue, the 15-year-old said the group came across Brown, who was already being attacked by a man wearing a blue coat who then approached the girls, WRC reported.
“He pushed (Mr. Brown) to the ground,” the 15-year-old reportedly testified. “He then walked up to us, and I asked him why he was beating him up.”
“What did he say?” prosecutors asked the teen.
“I don’t remember what he said,” she reportedly responded. “I asked if we could help. He said yes.”
The 15-year-old testified that she did not know the identity of the man in the blue coat.
One of the defendants reportedly recorded the attack on her cellphone, which showed several of the girls stomping on Brown’s head and lashing him with his belt. Following the beating, the girls reportedly took selfies.
Malda Brown, a sister of the victim, told WRC she was satisfied with the outcome on Monday of the two teens in the case, but added, “we are also not going to stop until we get justice with this guy who initiated this whole thing with my younger brother.”
Law&Crime’s Jerry Lambe contributed to this report.
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