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A 15-year-old girl who pleaded guilty to a lesser charge was called as a witness for the prosecution.
WASHINGTON — D.C. prosecutors all but closed their case Tuesday against two young girls charged with murdering a 64-year-old man last year, saying they wanted an opportunity to review their exhibits before formally resting their case when the trial resumes next week.
The girls, ages 13 and 14, are accused of chasing down Reggie Brown, 64, and kicking and beating him to death in an alley in the 6200 block of Georgia Avenue NW on Oct. 17 last year. Two other teens have already pleaded guilty to lesser charges in connection with the case and a third is set to go to trial separately.
WUSA9 has been granted permission to cover the trial on condition we not identify the juveniles or their family members or report on medical information about the defendants.
Last week, one of the girls who pleaded guilty, a 15-year-old, took the stand as a key witness for the government. She testified that it was her idea to go look for someone to beat up because the group had gotten “bored.” Brown was simply a victim of opportunity, she said – the group came upon him already being attacked by an unidentified older man the girls believed to be a member of the Kennedy Street Crew and offered to help continue the assault.
The teen retook the stand Tuesday to allow attorneys for her two former co-defendants to cross-examine her. Charlotte Gilliland, one of the public defenders representing the 14-year-old, repeatedly pressed her on her motives for identifying her client on the stand in previous testimony as a member of the group that killed Brown. Gilliland asked the teen pointedly if she had only identified her client by name after she had been placed in custody at the Youth Services Center. The 15-year-old agreed. She also asked if she hoped her cooperation with the prosecution would spare her from a lengthy stint behind bars. She agreed again.
Gilliland and her co-counsel have argued the 14-year-old has been misidentified as a suspect in the case and that a D.C. homicide detective improperly coerced her into meeting with him prior to her arrest.
On redirect, prosecutor Gabrielle LoGaglio pointed out the 15-year-old had already been sentenced prior to her testimony – she was ordered earlier this month to serve three years in secure detention – and elicited that her plea deal included no requirement that she testify at trial. The second juvenile defendant who has pleaded guilty, but not yet been sentenced, was not called as a witness by the D.C. Attorney General’s Office.
The trial was set to resume on Oct. 29. It was unclear whether either defendant intended to call witnesses on their behalf. If convicted of murder in connection with Brown’s death, the teens could face a maximum sentence of imprisonment until the age of 21.
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