Washington, D.C

Teen girl arrested in D.C. after carjacking is sentenced for robberies

Published

on


The first victim recalled that she had just moved to the District last spring and was walking home from Children’s National Hospital, where she works, when she saw a group of girls. She said the teenagers rushed up to her, pushed her to the ground, stole her purse and ripped off her jacket.

A second woman, who was robbed around the same time, said she has post-traumatic stress disorder after a group of teen girls knocked her to the ground and stole her purse. She now carries pepper spray and an electronic stun device.

“I saw a group of girls,” she said in D.C. Superior Court. “I never thought I should have to be concerned about a group of girls.”

The women spoke at a sentencing hearing Thursday for a 15-year-old who received a three-year term in juvenile detention after pleading guilty to five robberies, car theft and assault. The girl was arrested in October in connection with a carjacking that resulted in the car-crash death of another teen girl.

Advertisement

Another woman, also a robbery victim, told a judge that she had surgery on her jaw as a result of being assaulted. She said her purse was stolen, and she later moved to another part of D.C. to avoid having panic attacks while walking or driving through the neighborhood where she was attacked. A fourth woman, a New York resident, testified that she was attending a work conference in D.C. and was leaving a training session when a group of girls knocked her to the ground and stole her purse.

“I am from New York and I always thought I was pretty guarded and cautious before,” she told Judge Andrea L. Hertzfeld, who ordered the 15-year-old to be held by the D.C. Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services until her 18th birthday.

Police said the girls were part of a group that carried out several robberies in 2023 that culminated with the car crash that resulted in the death of Kendra Outlaw, 16. Authorities say Outlaw was driving a carjacked Honda Pilot at a high speed when it struck a utility pole at Brentwood Road and Bryant Street NE shortly before 2 a.m. on Oct. 26. The girl who was sentenced Thursday had been a passenger in a carjacked Toyota Camry that was speeding with the Honda.

The Washington Post, which generally does not identify people charged with crimes as juveniles, was allowed to watch the sentencing on the condition that the name of the teen not be disclosed.

Prosecutors said that before the deadly carjacking, the 15-year-old girl was also involved in five street robberies in April and September in which female victims were assaulted by a group of girls who stole purses and other items. She pleaded guilty in those cases. Prosecutors from the D.C. attorney general’s office allowed the teen to plead guilty to a lesser offense of unauthorized use of a vehicle in connection with the Oct. 26 carjacking.

Advertisement

The deadly crash and subsequent arrest became the focus of a rift among D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D), judges in Superior Court and youth officials in the city. After the incident, Bowser criticized judges and youth officials, erroneously saying publicly that the teen had six or seven previous arrests for carjacking so she should have been in secure detention and not allowed to return home. That description of the girl’s background was untrue.

At the hearing, the soft-spoken teen read a letter of apology to the victims, her parents and Judge Hertzfeld, who had been a focus of the mayor’s ire.

“I am sorry for what I did to you all. I hope you find it in your heart to forgive me,” the girl said. “I was influenced by people I was hanging with.”

The teen later told the judge she wants to attend college and eventually law school and become a defense attorney.

Her lawyer Khadijah Ali said the girl was “influenced” by older teens. She asked the judge to place her client on probation so she could obtain psychological and emotional counseling from various agencies that the teen’s parents had identified.

Advertisement

Ali also said her client was still grieving Outlaw’s death.

“She blames herself for what happened, even though they were in different vehicles. She feels that what happened was her fault,” Ali said. “She’s a sweet girl who was influenced by others and followed other people, which is what many teenagers do.”

Prosecutors argued that the teen should be incarcerated while also undergoing counseling.

“They chose harm over community,” prosecutor Julia Rupert said. “This array of assaultive conduct on residents and victims is concerning.”

Hertzfeld advised the teen that if Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services officials determine that she has been rehabilitated before her 18th birthday, the agency could order her released.

Advertisement

“This case is a tragedy all around,” Hertzfeld said before ordering the teen held in secure detention and to undergo psychological and emotional counseling. “There is a lot of work that has to be done. But nobody is only the mistake they made. … I have faith in you.”



Source link

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Trending

Exit mobile version