John Jefferson
Inset: Reggie Brown (Brown family). Background: The alley where he was allegedly beaten to death by five teen girls (WJLA).
The youngest of the five young girls found guilty last month of kicking and stomping a disabled stranger to death in Washington, D.C., because they “were bored” — taking selfies and recordings with the battered 64-year-old after beating him in an alley — was sentenced Tuesday and remanded to a detention facility.
The 13-year-old, who pleaded guilty to assault and was 12 at the time, will remain detained until she turns 20. She was called out at her sentencing by Superior Court Judge Kendra Briggs for bragging and talking about Reggie Brown‘s murder last year “as if it was like making a sandwich,” according to local CBS affiliate WUSA. Brown’s family was in court as prosecutors played a voicemail recording of the girl boasting about the beating.
“After listening to the voicemail of all the things she was saying about my brother and the way she took the belt and was … I couldn’t, I couldn’t listen anymore,” one of Brown’s sisters, who was not identified, told WUSA after leaving the sentencing early.
“It just hurt my heart,” the woman said. “For a 13-year-old girl to be able to celebrate like that, there’s no way I could sit in there and listen to that. I had to get up and leave.”
Prosecutors described the youth as one of the ringleaders behind Brown’s death and accused her of taking the man’s own belt and beating him with it — saying “belt to a–” repeatedly — as others filmed.
Five girls, ranging in ages from 12 to 15, allegedly took part in Brown’s murder after chasing him down in a Washington, D.C., alley in October 2023. Asked why they set upon him, one of the teens reportedly told cops: “Because we were bored.”
Two of the teens pleaded guilty last month, including the 13-year-old who was detained Tuesday, with the oldest being sentenced to three years in prison for assault with a dangerous weapon, WUSA reports.
Another 13-year-old got hit with the maximum sentence allowed for a minor in Washington on Dec. 4 after being convicted of second-degree murder, with Briggs ordering her to remain under a “restrictive commitment” in a Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services facility until she is 21, according to local CBS affiliate WUSA. The 13-year-old sentenced on Tuesday was given the same fate, but she’ll be getting out a year earlier, per WUSA.
As with the sentencing earlier this month, the young girl tried reading an apology to Brown’s family, who told WUSA that they do not accept it. Her first court appearance in July was reportedly marred by an alleged outburst by the girl, who had to be taken out on a stretcher after she punched a U.S. Marshal. The deal her lawyers negotiated for the assault on Brown included an agreement where she wouldn’t be charged for the attack if she pleaded guilty.
“I’ve never seen anything like that before,” Briggs told the girl Tuesday.
A fourth teenage defendant who was convicted of second-degree murder, assault with a dangerous weapon and conspiracy to commit assault for Brown’s death is scheduled to be sentenced sometime Wednesday.
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