WASHINGTON — One of the teenage girls who beat a man to death last year learned her fate in a D.C. courtroom on Wednesday.
The 13-year-old was handed the maximum sentence Wednesday, ensuring she will remain in custody until she turns 21 ─ the max sentence allowed for a someone that young in D.C.
The girl read a written apology to the courtroom, which included the family of 64-year old Reggie Brown. In her apology, she said she should've walked away instead of chasing after Brown. She also said she wasn't raised to be this way, as her mother wiped away tears in the courtroom. She admitted that she should've stayed in school and not hung out with the wrong people.
"I wish I could start my life over," she said to the courtroom.
Superior Court Judge Kendra Briggs called the crime "horrific" as she handed down the sentence, saying that the celebratory disposition displayed by the girl in the cellphone video that she herself recorded, was not lost upon her.
Judge Briggs said the girl had every opportunity to not participate but chose to instead, especially noting that the girl took a selfie video after beating Brown with someone in the background yelling "we just killed a n-----!"
The girl, who was 12 years old at the time, was found guilty of second-degree murder in the beating death of Brown last month. The verdict was handed down by Judge Briggs more than a year after the harrowing crime took place.
WUSA9 spoke to the Brown family after the sentencing. Malda Brown, one of Reggie's older sisters said she did not accept the girl's apology.
"She didn’t give no remorse or no empathy or no sympathy," she said.
The group of teenage girls kicked Brown to death last year because they were "bored" and looking for something to do. The teen who proposed the plan testified at the trial of two other girls charged in his murder.
WUSA9 previously spoke to the Brown family after the verdict on Nov. 18.
"We are pretty much satisfied," said Malda Brown, one of Reggie's older sisters, "but we also are going to not stop until we get justice from the guy who initiated this whole thing with my younger brother."
Five girls ranging in age from 12 to 15 years old are accused of chasing down Brown and kicking and beating him to death in an alley in the 6200 block of Georgia Avenue NW on Oct. 17, 2025. Two of the teens have pleaded guilty, including the oldest, a 15-year-old who was sentenced to three years in prison for assault with a dangerous weapon.
Prosecutors called the teen as a key witness in the trial of the girls who were found guilty Monday. WUSA9 was granted permission to cover the proceeding on the condition we agree not to identify any of the juveniles or their family members.
The 15-year-old said she and the other members of the group had been hanging out at a skate park in Silver Spring, Maryland, but wanted something else to do after returning to her home in the District. It was then she proposed they go “find someone to beat up.”
“Why did you suggest that to the group?” prosecutor Gabrielle LoGaglio asked her.
“Because we were bored,” the girl said.
They then headed toward the intersection of Georgia Avenue and Sheridan Street in D.C.’s Brightwood neighborhood around 11 p.m. It was there they saw an unknown man already attacking Brown, who was lying on the ground. The 15-year-old said she asked the man if they could help him beat Brown up. When he agreed, they all began chasing Brown — who had attempted to run away after the man briefly walked away to speak to the teens.
Surveillance video shows the teens and the unknown man chasing Brown through an alley until they finally catch up with him. Then, one of the girls — the 15-year-old’s younger sister — used her cellphone to record while the group repeatedly taunted Brown as they beat and kicked him. Members of Brown’s family who attended the trial stepped out into the hallway before prosecutors played the graphic video, which shows Brown lying on the ground helplessly as the girls kick him and mock him for bleeding.
“Damn, you leakin’!” one girl, not identified by prosecutors, can be heard shouting at Brown.
At an earlier hearing in the staggered trial in September, D.C. Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Sasha Breland testified that Brown died of blunt force trauma to his head which caused bleeding in his brain. On Tuesday, the 15-year-old said she already realized what they’d done as they were walking away from the assault scene.
“Do you remember what you were thinking when you walked back to the alley?” LoGaglio asked.
“He’s dead,” the girl said.