Two D.C. teens went to trial Thursday on charges they chased down and beat a disabled man to death last year in Northwest.

Prosecutors from the D.C. Attorney General’s Office said the two defendants were part of a group of five girls who were looking to assault someone when they encountered 64-year-old Reginald Brown, who had multiple fingers missing from both hands.

The separate defense teams for the 13- and 15-year-old defendants argued the prosecution had no proof of any murderous intent during last October’s fatal attack near Georgia Avenue Northwest, and that prosecutors lacked evidence linking one of the girls to the crime scene.

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The two girls are the first of four defendants to go to trial for murder in Brown’s death. The other defendants will return to court in November, while a 15-year-old girl pleaded guilty last month to assault with a dangerous weapon.

But the teens’ defense teams are contending with surveillance footage that shows a group of people running down a limping victim, as well as a celebratory cellphone video prosecutors said was taken by one of Thursday’s defendants just moments after the attack.

“The defendants were looking for someone to victimize, and they selected the most vulnerable person,” lead prosecutor Gabrielle LoGaglio said during her opening statement.

Ms. LoGaglio said three girls, including the two on trial Thursday, traded Instagram messages where they discussed going “out on a three-man” — or as the prosecutor said, with the intent to rob or gang up on someone.

The prosecutor said the group of girls were walking along Georgia Avenue Northwest just after midnight on Oct. 17, 2023, when they saw an unknown man roughing up Brown.

Surveillance footage played at the trial showed the man throwing Brown to the ground. The hobbled victim got to his feet and scurried off, and multiple figures were seen sprinting in his direction a short time later.

Ms. LoGaglio said the 13-year-old defendant delivered “four of the most forceful blows” by repeatedly slamming Brown’s head into the pavement.

The 15-year-old defendant joined in on kicking the victim and recorded the beating, prosecutors said, which included stomping on Brown’s head, pulling his pants down and whipping him with his own belt.

Dr. Sasha Breland, the deputy chief medical examiner in the District, said Brown’s cause of death was a brain hemorrhage due to blunt force trauma.

EMT Stephon Hunter testified that he found a lifeless Brown face down in an alley with brain matter splattered around him.    

Charlotte Gilliland from the D.C. Public Defender’s Office said that there was no DNA evidence to connect her 13-year-old client to the attack, and the poor video footage wasn’t sufficient enough to tie her to the deadly assault.

She also said a Metropolitan Police detective compelled the girl to give a statement by saying she was “going to be a crackhead” and told the girl “she can either be an inmate or a snitch.”

“You can’t rely on a statement under these circumstances,” Ms. Gilliland said.

Geoffrey Harris, who represented the 15-year-old girl, argued that there’s “zero credible evidence” that there was a conspiracy to commit murder from his client. He disputed the quality of the surveillance footage as well, saying it had poor lighting and no sounds.

The trial will resume Friday morning. If convicted, both girls would be sent to the District’s juvenile facility until they are both 21, the maximum time allowed for minors to spend behind bars under city law.