A 14-year-old girl was committed Tuesday to a youth facility until she turns 21 after pleading guilty to second-degree murder.
D.C. juvenile court judge Lynn Leibovitz gave the girl, who was 13 at the time of the attack, the maximum legally allowable sentence. The teen, along with another girl, 15, also pleaded guilty to murdering UberEats driver Mohammad Anwar near Nationals Park in March.
The prosecutor said the girl showed no remorse and even muttered to herself when she believed no one could hear after she was arrested, “If you gave me my f’ing phone, the jacks would have still been alive, but no, you want to put my damn phone in your pocket.”
“When Mr. Anwar called out for help and bystanders came, she chose to lie about whose car it was,” the prosecutor said. “[She] chose to grab the steering wheel, chose to put the car in gear, chose to repeatedly tell [the other girl] to go.”
The girl informed the court she was sorry, but reportedly, her statement beyond that was very hard to hear or understand. The prosecutor said the 14-year-old is still awaiting sentencing for stealing two other cars.
The girls were both charged with felony murder and armed carjacking, and they were prosecuted as juveniles, despite D.C. law, which allows 15-year-olds who commit the most serious crimes to be tried as adults.
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Coury Muscagni, the younger girl’s attorney, had requested for her to be committed until she turned 18. He then stated she had since shown remorse and wishes she could take back what she’d done. Muscagni added she has become more thoughtful about her actions and has been a model detainee at youth services.
Prosecutors eventually agreed to drop armed carjacking and other charges against the 14-year-old girl in exchange for the guilty plea.
Previously, Leibovitz said the maximum time the teen can be held, even on a murder charge, is until she turns 21.
D.C. police said the two teen girls attempted to take Anwar’s car using a Taser, which resulted in a rollover crash. Prosecutor Baki Baruwa revealed Anwar had agreed to give the girls a ride in his Honda Accord, but when they got to a side street near the ballpark, the girls tried to take his car and his belongings.
Baruwa said the youngest girl stayed in the passenger seat, while the 15-year-old girl climbed into the driver’s seat.
Anwar reportedly pleaded with passersby for help and asked them to call the police, but the older girl lied to the witnesses, saying it was her mother’s car.
Anwar blocked the older girl from closing the driver’s door, but was half-in and half-out of the car as one of the girls screamed, “Go, go, go!” and jammed it into gear.
A gruesome video captures the Accord racing down Van Street SE, with the driver’s door flapping open and Anwar hanging on. The door slams into a tree and crushes him, then continues speeding down the street until the older girl makes a sharp right on N St. SE and the car flips over, throwing Anwar to the pavement and killing him.