Defense attorneys cast doubt Tuesday on the prosecution’s star witness in its case against a group of District teenage girls charged with beating a disabled man to death last year in Northwest.
Public defender Charlotte Gilliland portrayed the 15-year-old girl on the witness stand as unreliable by saying the girl only identified Ms. Gilliland’s 14-year-old client after she had spent time at the District’s juvenile detention facility.
The 15-year-old already has pleaded guilty to her role in 64-year-old Reginald Brown’s killing.
Ms. Gilliland argued the teen convict’s desire to get out of the Youth Services Center was why she signed a plea agreement pegging the 14-year-old as an accomplice — despite the elder girl testifying that she didn’t know the suspect’s legal name before reviewing the Office of Attorney General’s proffer.
The public defender furthered her argument by asking the 15-year-old why she told different stories about how the five girls allegedly came to join an unknown man in the fatal October 2023 assault of Brown, who was missing fingers on both hands and had cancer.
Last week, Ms. Gilliland said the 15-year-old testified it was her idea to join the man who they saw roughing up Brown near the corner of Georgia Avenue and Sheridan Street in Northwest.
But Ms. Gilliland played video of the girl’s police interrogation following her July arrest where she said it started because a 13-year-old girl, who is also on trial, approached the man in the blue coat about helping “trash” Brown.
Ms. Gilliland asked the girl why she told Metropolitan Police Detective Harry Singleton over the summer that the idea originated from the 13-year-old suspect.
“I don’t know,” the 15-year-old responded.
The public defender added that the 15-year-old convict didn’t recognize the 14-year-old suspect when Detective Singleton showed her a picture of the girl during the police interview.
Prosecutor Gabrielle LoGaglio showed the court the plea agreement, which she said made no mention about the 15-year-old needing to testify nor did it say the girl would be guaranteed any additional promises if she did testify.
In another picture allegedly showing the 13- and 14-year-old suspects, Ms. LoGaglio asked the 15-year-old if those girls were with her during the deadly assault on Brown. The girl confirmed they were.
The two girls currently on trial are accused of being part of a group of five girls charged in Brown’s slaying.
None of the suspects have been named by authorities because they are juveniles.
The Washington Times was allowed to attend the hearing on the condition that it publish no identifying information about the suspects, or disclose any information about their mental health or education.
The 15-year-old girl testified previously that the girls were hanging out at someone’s house on Oct. 17, 2023, when they became “bored” and went looking for “someone to beat up.”
They came across a man in a blue coat assaulting Brown, and the 15-year-old said she asked if they could join in. The man agreed, and the group then chased Brown into an alley and beat him to death.
All the juvenile suspects were between the ages of 12 and 15 at the time. The man involved has never been arrested or identified.
The 15-year-old girl and another girl have already pleaded guilty in the case. The 15-year-old was sentenced to three years behind bars in the incident, while the other girl awaits sentencing.
The 13- and 14-year-old suspects on trial currently are both charged with murder, but the girls’ different defense teams are putting forward different arguments.
The 13-year-old’s attorney doesn’t dispute his client’s role in Brown’s killing, but is arguing it doesn’t meet the standard of intent needed to qualify as a murder.
Public defenders are arguing the 14-year-old is being wrongly implicated in the case because the government has weak evidence about her being there.
Another 13-year-old girl — the 15-year-old’s younger sister — is expected to go to trial next month.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.