US PROSECUTORS said yesterday that they will call up to 50 witnesses in their case against three girls accused of bullying their classmate, Irish-born Phoebe Prince so relentlessly that she hanged herself last January .
Ashley Longe, Sharon Chanon Velazquez and Flannery Mullins appeared with their lawyers in Juvenile Court in Hadley, Massachusetts yesterday. They are expected to stand trial in early 2011.
The trio are among a group of six teenagers charged earlier this year with bullying Ms Prince, a 15-year-old South Hadley High School student. She had recently moved there with her family from Co Clare.
The trio’s lawyers said yesterday that they would file motions by November 1st asking a judge to throw out the grand jury’s indictments based on insufficient evidence.
The lawyers also opposed the prosecutors’ request to have the first of the trials in December, saying they had volumes of information to review as they prepared their defence.
Judge Daniel Swords rejected the idea of starting the trials in December, but encouraged the lawyers to submit their motions and other paperwork quickly.
“Let’s get them filed. Let’s get them heard. Let’s move this case along,” he said.
Ms Longe, Ms Velazquez and Ms Mullins were each 16 years old when they were charged as youthful offenders with violation of civil rights resulting in bodily injury. Ms Mullins and Ms Velazquez were also are charged with stalking. All three have pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors say some of their witnesses are now in college and will be called back to the area to testify.
The teenagers and their lawyers did not comment after yesterday’s court hearing, other than a brief statement by Colin Keefe to reaffirm Ms Velazquez’s innocence.
Ms Prince’s aunt also attended the proceedings, but declined to comment.
Ms Prince hanged herself in January after what prosecutors call a relentless campaign of bullying by the other students.
According to prosecutors, Ms Mullins, Ms Velazquez and Ms Longe were angry over her brief relationship with Austin Renaud, Ms Mullins’ on-off boyfriend.
Mr Renaud and another teenager, Sean Mulveyhill, face statutory rape charges for allegedly having sexual contact with Ms Prince. They have pleaded not guilty.
Mr Mulveyhill and his ex-girlfriend, Kayla Narey, also face the same civil rights charge levied against the three girls.
The cases against Ms Narey, Mr Mulveyhill and Mr Renaud are being handled in Hampshire Superior Court, where all have pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors say they are expected to go to trial after the three younger teenagers.
Ms Longe is charged with yelling crude comments, such as “Irish whore” and “stupid slut” at Ms Prince in the school library a few hours before her suicide.
The court records accuse Ms Mullins of threatening to beat up Ms Prince, cornering her in a school toilet, repeatedly calling her an “Irish slut” and posting demeaning comments about her on Facebook.
Ms Velazquez was described by prosecutors as showing “a pattern of assaultive conduct” which included crude insults and threats of violence, including one for which she served a one-day school suspension.
In addition to the charges they face in public juvenile court proceedings, prosecutors said Ms Longe, Ms Mullins and Ms Velazquez also face separate delinquency cases that list the same alleged offences plus criminal harassment charges. – (AP)