Girl,15, involved in fatal carjacking pleads guilty to 5 robbery charges
A 15-year-old girl who authorities say was involved in an October carjacking and crash that killed another girl in D.C. pleaded guilty Tuesday to unauthorized use of a vehicle and five robbery charges.
The teenager, who was charged as a juvenile with several additional crimes, was involved in an incident in which a carjacked Honda Pilot, while traveling at a high speed, struck a utility pole at Brentwood Road and Bryant Street NE shortly before 2 a.m. on Oct. 26. The driver, Kendra Outlaw, 16, of Northeast Washington, was killed.
Police said the girls were part of a group of young people who carjacked two vehicles — the Honda and a Toyota Camry — and were traveling together at the time of the crash. After the Honda hit the pole, police said, it flipped over and struck the Toyota, which came to a stop.
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The 15-year-old girl was a passenger in the Toyota, police said. They said that three people got out of the Toyota and that two of them ran away. The teen was arrested at the scene and charged with armed carjacking, unlawful entry of a stolen vehicle and conspiracy.
In D.C. Superior Court, prosecutors with the D.C. attorney general’s office allowed the girl to plead guilty to lesser robbery charges and unauthorized use of a vehicle. As part of a deal to avoid a trial, prosecutors also said they would move to dismiss all remaining charges and agreed not to ask a judge for a sentence of secure detention beyond the teen’s 18th birthday.
The Washington Post, which generally does not identify people who are charged with crimes as juveniles, was allowed to watch the hearing on the condition that the teen’s name not be disclosed.
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Prosecutors outlined five street robberies in April and September in which female victims were assaulted by a group of girls, including the 15-year-old, who stole purses and other items. She pleaded guilty in those cases and in connection with the Oct. 26 carjacking.
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.
On Tuesday, the youth’s attorney, Khadijah Ali, asked Judge Andrea L. Hertzfeld to order her client released from custody and allow her to return home to her parents to await sentencing, scheduled for Jan. 25. Prosecutors objected to the request. Hertzfeld ordered the teen to remain detained in the custody of the D.C. Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services.
The judge said the girl “went on a months-long crime spree, victimizing people in the community, and continued to do so when she was on court supervision in earlier matters.”
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