15-year-old girl sentenced to 3 years for killing 64-year-old man: report

One of the five teen girls who is accused of beating 64-year-old Reggie Brown to death in October 2023 was reportedly sentenced to three years in secured detention by a D.C. Superior Court Thursday. 

The 15-year-old girl was the first of the teens, which included her 13-year-old sister, to be convicted in the beating death. 

"I made a very important mistake. I just wanted to be by my sister’s side. But what we did was wrong," she said Thursday, according to The Washington Post. "I feel horrible. I don’t have the power to make things right. But I will keep these feelings with me throughout my life to be the best citizen I can be."

READ MORE: Trial rescheduled for 3 girls accused of killing 64-year-old DC man after new details emerge

"This crime was brutal. What happened to my brother was unacceptable, and telling young people that they can do this and only get two years of incarceration is not justice," Brown’s sister Malda Brown said ahead of sentencing. 

READ MORE: Grieving family pushes for adult charges against 3 DC teens accused in deadly beating

The 15-year-old pleaded guilty to a downgraded charge from second-degree murder to assault with a dangerous weapon.

The fatal assault occurred on October 17, 2023. The medical examiner ruled the death of 64-year-old Reggie Brown a homicide due to blunt force trauma. Police believed he was randomly attacked. 

Brown's family told FOX 5 that he suffered from multiple disabilities and was frail from battling to beat cancer. He encountered the group of girls around 1 a.m. while on his way to his Northwest D.C. home near Georgia Avenue and Rittenhouse Street.