"you tube beating girls" to be charged as adults

[DucTerry]

So how would a defense attorney approach a case like this? I mean...I guess you just try and keep the time down? Get them on a technicality?

Wouldn't that be a crappy first case to draw...yikes.

They wouldn't unless legally obligated or the parents had just shit-tons of money to throw around. Yeah, keeping the time down is pretty much the best that's gonna happen.

I guess, in some alternate dimension, one could argue all reproductions of the video were illegal and have the defendents withdraw the original video from public forum, making the prosecutors job a little harder. Unfortunately for this idea, the video has been out there and finding an unbiased jury that wouldn't use prior viewing of the video in their judgement would be impossible.

 

[Vega$ NSX]

I think I have the perfect solution. Put all of the offenders in an UFC octagon for one 5 minute free for all round with Kimbo Slice. Televise the fight with all of the proceeds going to the victim and the victim's family.

At least that would happen on MY island....

 

[enkrypt3d]

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/crime/2008/04/11/sotvo.teen.beating.court.cnn?iref=videosearch

On a whole new level, these girls could be facing the same fate as these group of young guys in Michigan:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/crime/2008/04/07/in.session.monday.cnn?iref=videosearch

The testimony this kid's friends give is chilling to say the least.........

Heres a list of all the videos on that trial:

http://search.cnn.com/search?type=video&sortBy=date&intl=false&query=beheading&x=0&y=0

 

[davidf]

So how would a defense attorney approach a case like this? I mean...I guess you just try and keep the time down? Get them on a technicality?

Wouldn't that be a crappy first case to draw...yikes.

Guess he could argue the the gloves did'nt fit. It worked for the Juice.

 

[White92]

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/crime/2008/04/11/sotvo.teen.beating.court.cnn?iref=videosearch

On a whole new level, these girls could be facing the same fate as these group of young guys in Michigan:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/crime/2008/04/07/in.session.monday.cnn?iref=videosearch

The testimony this kid's friends give is chilling to say the least.........

Heres a list of all the videos on that trial:

http://search.cnn.com/search?type=video&sortBy=date&intl=false&query=beheading&x=0&y=0

Did I hear that right in the 2nd video? Did the judge just tell the girl to have no contact with the victim and then state the address of the victim and school where she goes? The whole world knows where she lives now?

What were the harrassing or tampering with a witness charges? What did they do there?

 

[DrVolkl]

They wouldn't unless legally obligated or the parents had just shit-tons of money to throw around. Yeah, keeping the time down is pretty much the best that's gonna happen.

I guess, in some alternate dimension, one could argue all reproductions of the video were illegal and have the defendents withdraw the original video from public forum, making the prosecutors job a little harder. Unfortunately for this idea, the video has been out there and finding an unbiased jury that wouldn't use prior viewing of the video in their judgement would be impossible.

Everyone gets a lawyer right? So do they enter "not guilty" pleas and go from there?

The law always fascinates me. I just can't imagine how you'd get around this one....or even argue/defend them.

I hope they do hard time.....but then again, will they learn anything? Will anyone else?

 

[Bigglezworth]

Anybody know what the beating was for?

What the hell kind of question is that? Who cares? Not permissible on any account.

 

[DucTerry]

I've always had a fascination with the law, I guess it stems from spending my formative years in a law office (worked summers doing research through high school then a little time doing investigative work). I'm getting my shit back together and finishing my undergrad now so I can go to Law School soon.

I've spoken with a few attorney friends and my mother (also an attorney) about this case and the general consensus is that the only responsible action would be to get the best plea bargain possible, but it will most likely go to trial because the media circus that will ensue brings great publicity for the defense.

 

[Dtrigg]

I read somewhere today, perhaps on Drudgereport.com that Dr. Phil's staff provided bail for some of the offenders so they could do a show with them. What a butt head, he and his staff. Didn't they learn anything about that Britney vist to the hospital and his being called on the carpet for unethical conduct.

 

[DucTerry]

Dr. Phil is the biggest crock o' shit, attention whore since Oprah..............oh.....yeah

I hope those girls beat the hell out of him.

 

[DrVolkl]

I hope those girls beat the hell out of him.

Now I'd definitely watch that!
:wink:

 

[Cairo94507]

Throw the book at them and let them experience some real bad Xas Xitches as a guest of the local jail (if they get lucky) or state prison (if they get what htey deserve).

 

[djdrock]

White trash breeding more white trash!

 

[jlindy]

What the hell kind of question is that? Who cares? Not permissible on any account.

I agree with you that it doesn't matter what is was for and is not permissible on any account. However, it I think it is going to be relevant to know the circumstances surrounding the incident in terms of severity of sentence and how this whole thing is going to be played out. I would imagine a judge/jury would find a much harsher sentence for them if they were simply beating someone up for fun to put on the internet vs. retaliation to something. The defense lawyers are going to try and throw as much smoke into the mix as possible. Having a daughter (much too young for this yet), it makes me sick to think about having your child in such agony. I went up and hugged her after I saw this.

As reports have indicated, the beating was supposedly a direct result of some trash talking done by the victim towards the arrested teens on her myspace account . The group lured her into their bedroom and decided that they were going to beat her down and put it on myspace/youtube in retaliation. The news reports said that she was knocked unconscious and once she came to, they started beating her again and began video taping it. It went on for 30 minutes!!!!!!!!

The media first reported that she was an innocent victim, an honor student and a cheerleader. It looks as if someone is trying to muddy the waters now because the news since reported that she may not be as innocent as they intially made her out to be. I saw an interview with another child's mom who said the victim verbally abused her daughter so much that she had to remove her from school. Honestly I don't care what the girl did or said, nobody deserves a 6 to 1 beat down. She was beat bad enough where her father didn't recognize her in the hospital. She never fought back and I think these teens are going to have a huge problem on theirs hands. Even best case scenario if they are not tried as adults and get probation on the criminal lawsuit, their parents are going to be slapped with a huge civil suit that will bankrupt their families.

What the hell is going on in school these days?

 

[NSXFRIEND]

whataworld we live in:

http://www.wftv.com/news/15845521/detail.html

New World Order :biggrin:

 

[enkrypt3d]

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/crime/2008/04/14/am.dr.phil.cnn?iref=videosearch

 

[Red]

I think everyone is a loser here

The harsher the punishment the worse the girls' lives will be f-ed up. The beaters, with or without cause or provocation were wrong - but sending them to jail where they will be abused by REAL criminals will take 30 mins of gang mayhem and turn it into months of torture and abuse to what are essentially "non-criminals" (yes, their act was criminal, but they are schoolgirls, not hardened criminals or street thugs.

I've dealt with all kinds and I assure you there is a noticeable difference between someone with criminal tendencies and a teen who does something out-of-the-park stupid (like these girls)

They now will lose big time - and probably end up as life-long disturbed people.

Everybody loses.

 

[quack]

I think everyone is a loser here

The harsher the punishment the worse the girls' lives will be f-ed up. The beaters, with or without cause or provocation were wrong - but sending them to jail where they will be abused by REAL criminals will take 30 mins of gang mayhem and turn it into months of torture and abuse to what are essentially "non-criminals" (yes, their act was criminal, but they are schoolgirls, not hardened criminals or street thugs.

I've dealt with all kinds and I assure you there is a noticeable difference between someone with criminal tendencies and a teen who does something out-of-the-park stupid (like these girls)

They now will lose big time - and probably end up as life-long disturbed people.

Everybody loses.

They may end up worse off if they aren't lifers but to me the group does seem like hardened criminals. They don't fit the leather jacket, tattoo, bandana, drive an nsx stereotype. but their actions were just as bad.

 

[richn001]

I think everyone is a loser here

The harsher the punishment the worse the girls' lives will be f-ed up. The beaters, with or without cause or provocation were wrong - but sending them to jail where they will be abused by REAL criminals will take 30 mins of gang mayhem and turn it into months of torture and abuse to what are essentially "non-criminals" (yes, their act was criminal, but they are schoolgirls, not hardened criminals or street thugs.

I've dealt with all kinds and I assure you there is a noticeable difference between someone with criminal tendencies and a teen who does something out-of-the-park stupid (like these girls)

They now will lose big time - and probably end up as life-long disturbed people.

Everybody loses.

I'm not so sure about everybody loses. There's something to be said about if their punishment might deter others from attempting the same violent acts. Also, we'll never know but their detention may have prevented them from doing it again to someone else. Just a thought.

I think if you were a parent of the hurt girl, you would feel differently.

 

[sahtt]

I'm not so sure about everybody loses. There's something to be said about if their punishment might deter others from attempting the same violent acts. Also, we'll never know but their detention may have prevented them from doing it again to someone else. Just a thought.

I think if you were a parent of the hurt girl, you would feel differently.

Unfortunately I doubt these girls follow the news or look up/are aware of the potential punishments for their actions. I am willing to bet very few teenage girls have or will ever seen this video or learn anything from it.

Although maybe not the most popular idea, I don't know if there is any net gain to sending these girls away for decades, assuring their destiny as ruined persons. I don't know why they just don't do some sort of forced labor system so imprisoned people can pay back society for their "rent" while earning some savings to look foward to. There are practically 90 billion gov't jobs, it seems like you could find ways to make more people productive if you were willing to think outside the box.

 

[BioBanker]

I dont know, but I suspect that these girls are far from otherwise good girls gone wrong for a few minutes. They planned malicious, very violent actions whereby they committed acts, such as kidnapping, that they would have known were horribly illegal.

No one got caught in the moment here. If they're old enough to plan and think through their actions, they're old enough to face their consequences.

My first thought was the same as Reds, but these "kids" knew exactly what they were doing.

 

[Red]

The problem is "Mob Mentality" - especially with teenagers - they started down a bad road and didn't know when to stop.

I'm SURE they didn't know that kidnapping was a "life in jail" offense, they just thought, "That Bitch, We'll get her"

One of the problems with the whole legal system of crime and punishment is that we assume criminals are smart enough to understand the legal consequences of their actions - just watch COPS or a show where some guy tries to out drive highway patrol and helecopters and you'll see - criminals is dumb!

These girls should be made to suffer, but through house arrest, public shame and acts of restitution. Not by being locked up for 20+ years with hardened criminals - when they get out at age 35 what will they be able to contribute to society?

Better to put leg irons on them and send them around to tell their story at schools across the country - that would be preventative and actually HELP society as a whole.

 

[DucTerry]

I'm SURE they didn't know that kidnapping was a "life in jail" offense, they just thought, "That Bitch, We'll get her"

Ignorance is not a defense...........ever.

 

[Red]

Ignorance is not a defense...........ever.

Thats a problem - because being young and being ignorant go hand in hand. Until recently, that was always believed to be true. Somehow, now, society seems more willing to try young people as adults.

To take an example to the extreme to prove a point, my six year old doesn't fully understand death yet - like "gone forever, never coming back" - it doesn't completely equate in his mind. It seems around 7 is when it clicks in, knowing lots of kids, having run a summer camp in my youth.

Now if my 6 yr old son finds my gun and decides to shoot a neighborhood kid who intimidates him and his buddies every day after school - is it reasonable to assume he understands the consequences of his actions?

If you said "yes" you not only don't have kids but you haven't spent much time with any

These girls did a terrible thing - but should they be forced to forfeit their futures for it?

I'm not sure that truly understood what they were doing - I also think that if you think they should go to jail for years and years we're not far away from the death penalty for their actions.

Society will pay to incarcerate them (around $30k a year!) and it will not have any effect of the future behavior of others since they are ignorant, a new crop of 15 year olds are created every year - not many understand the criminal code.

The only solution to ignorance is education - so ignorance isn't an excuse, but not providing education to young people is undoubtedly contributory negligence!:frown:

 

[quack]

I dont know, but I suspect that these girls are far from otherwise good girls gone wrong for a few minutes. They planned malicious, very violent actions whereby they committed acts, such as kidnapping, that they would have known were horribly illegal.

No one got caught in the moment here. If they're old enough to plan and think through their actions, they're old enough to face their consequences.

My first thought was the same as Reds, but these "kids" knew exactly what they were doing.

+1, The only defense would be if the parents truly brought their kids up like this. I just don't want them out hurting other people or other peoples children. It could have easily been worse since they were in a group.