Two Students Plead Guilty In Bullying Of Teenager (Phoebe Prince)

[alp227]

Source: The New York Times

Two of the six students in South Hadley, Mass., who were charged with bullying a 15-year-old girl before her suicide last year pleaded guilty to misdemeanor harassment charges on Wednesday and received a year’s probation each, plus 100 hours of community service.

The suicide of the girl, Phoebe Prince, and the circumstances surrounding it attracted wide attention after prosecutors brought unusually severe felony charges and because of the poignant story of Ms. Prince, a newly arrived Irish immigrant who hanged herself after what the prosecutor described as months of bullying. The defendants were accused of relentlessly tormenting Ms. Prince and calling her an “Irish slut” after she briefly dated two boys in the senior class.

The two students who pleaded guilty on Wednesday, Sean Mulveyhill and Kayla Narey, had both faced more serious felony charges, including violation of Ms. Prince’s civil rights and causing bodily injury — in effect, contributing to her death in January 2010 — with a potential sentence of 10 years. Three other former students facing similar charges as youthful offenders are scheduled to appear in juvenile court on Thursday, and it appeared likely that they would receive similar deals.

A sixth former student, Austin Renaud, was charged with statutory rape. A trial is scheduled for July 6.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/05/us/05bully.html

---

AARGH! I knew it! Guilty plea = probation and community service. Do you think it's enough or insufficient? Bottom line is, these teens need to learn not to do this ever again to another person. Would juvenile hall have rehabilitated them?

[tularetom]

1. It's not much more than a "tut, tut" and a mild slap on the wrist

They pled guilty to causing the death of a human being. They knew what they were doing when they did it and apparently continued to do it.

Jail time, perhaps a few years, is warranted IMO. This is what happens when our courts get clogged up with silly ass cases, many of them involving possession of drugs, and the prosecutors are forced to plea bargain more serious violations like this in order to clear the court docket.

[russspeakeasy]

3. I would really, really like the judge to bring the parents to court

and have them explain their child rearing techniques.  Oh, and
a couple of reporters too.

[Joe Bacon]

15. The parents should have been fined.

I was a victim of bullying all through high school. Reading about victims like this brings back terrible flashbacks of the endless torture. As far as I'm concerned, those punk's parents should have been hit with stiff fines for what their children did. If the judge had done that, it would make other parents think twice about what their kids do at school.

[ThomCat]

5. I agree. Slaps on the wrists.

:(

She's dead, and they'll only have to do community service. x(

They should all have spent some time in jail and had felony convictions on their records for the rest of their lives.

[Nevernose]

8. There's actually way more to the story

It's not as easy as "girl killed herself because bullies were mean to her." I wish I could remember the name of the article, but google around (or wait for my lunch break!) and get the name of it.

Sad and tragic, but reality is nowhere close to what the local & national media portrayed it as.

[Mrs. Ted Nancy]

10. Appears South Hadley was out-of-control

This is from the Memorandum of Law presented by the district attorney against one of the girls.

STATEMENT OF THE FACTS

In an initial interview with thc decedent's mother. investigators learned that Ms. Prince, who had enrolled at the High School in September 2009, was "getting bullied" by
other students at South Hadley High School. According to the published school calendar for the South Hadley Public Schools, the First day of school for the 2009-2010 school calendar year was September 1, 2009.

Additional investigation later revealed that, sometime in November 2009, Sean Mulveyhill, a South Hadley High School senior, had ended a dating relationship with Ms.
Prince, a South Hadley High School freshman. Thereafter, Sean Mulveyhill resumed a dating relationship with his girlfriend, South Hadley High School junior, Kayla Narey.

The defendant, Ashley Longe, a South Hadley High School junior, had known Sean Mulleyhill for years and the pair were close platonic friends. She (the defendant) became acquainted with Kayla Narey through her friendship with Sean Mulleyville. At diverse dates and times during the school year, Kayla Narey voiced her dislike for Phoebe Prince to her (Ms, Prince), Ms. Narey's friends and acquaintances, and other high school classmates. Sean Mu!Mulleyville and the defendant, individually or in conjunction with each other, and Kay!a Narey also voiced their dislike of Ms, Prince'" relationship with Sean Mulveyhill to Ms, Prince, their respective friends and acquaintances and other
high school classmates.

One witness told investigators, in a written statement, that Ms. Prince was not an aggressive person, and stated that:

"She (Ms. Prince) definitely didn't want to fight with the girls in the school. She
just wanted to keep to herself and keep things the way they were. She wanted
people to stop picking on her, to stop being bullied. She wanted people to leave
her alone, She wanted people to stop spreading rumors and stop the girls from
talking about her."

On Wednesday, January 13, 2010, Mrs. Prince told a confidant that she was accused by other girls at school of "taking away" another girl's, boyfriend; that she (Ms. Prince) was being targeted by peers and that accusations at School escalated to making threats of harming her. On January 13th, Ms. Prince explained school "has been close to intolerable lately".

An initial examination of Ms. Prince's cellular telephone was conducted by investigators who were able to determine that several text messages were exchanged between Ms. Prince and an identified telephone number approximately two (2) hours prior to her death. Investigators subsequently learned, through witness interviews, that Ms. Prince had exchanged text messages with a friend during the afternoon hours of her death. The texts focused around the verbally abusive incidents Ms. Prince had been subjected to by Sean Mulveyhill, Kayla Narey and the defendant earlier on the date of her death and her despair at the ongoing taunting to which she was subjected. Following the last outgoing message, documented at 2:48 pm on January 14th, there were no further outgoing texts recovered from Ms. Prince's cellular telephone, although a forensic search of the telephone revealed two (2) additional messages in the "inbox" that went unanswered by Ms. Prince.

From the date of Ms. Prince's death on January 14th to the present, investigators from the Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit attached to the Northwestern District
Attorney's Office and the South Hadley Police Department have interviewed and obtained statements from multiple witnesses, that reveal a pattern of assaultive conduct,
through an act or series of acts, directed toward Phoebe Prince by the defendant occurring on or before January 14, 2010 on the grounds of South Hadley High School, located at 356 Newton Street, South Hadley, Massachusetts, or the grounds adjacent thereto, based upon the defendant's hostility of Ms. Prince's relationship with her (the defendant's) male friend, Sean Mulveyhill.

Specifically, witnesses have reported that Phoebe Prince was in the library with friends on January 14,2010. Sean Mulveyhill, Kayla Narey, and the defendant were in the library at the same time. According to witnesses, the defendant made reference to Ms. Prince on multiple occasions while in the library. The first time, the defendant yelled something to the effect of "close your legs" and "I hate stupid sluts."

Others in the library heard what was said, and attempted to divert Ms. Prince's attention so she would not hear it. Another time occurred at the end of the same period. As the bell rang, students got up to leave the library. The defendant walked by Ms. Prince's table and said something to the effect that she (the defendant) hated sluts. According to witnesses the defendant said it loud enough so that Ms. Prince could hear it; and she did.

According to one student, the defendant "was standing next to another table screaming at from across the library." This student told investigators that he definitely heard the defendant call Ms. Prince an "Irish whore". This student described the defendant as "taunting" Ms. Prince, or saying things to her from across the library, on and off for the five minutes that he and another male student were in the library. The defendant intentionally directed comments toward Ms. Prince, so as to malign, among other things, Ms, Prince's national origin; specifically, Ms. Prince's Irish heritage.

Multiple witnesses informed investigators that the defendant referred to Ms. Prince using such words as "stupid sluts" and "Irish whore" while Ms. Prince attempted to study in the school's library. The defendant's comments to Ms. Prince were loud enough that they were overheard the other students in the library. Sean Mulveyhill and Kayla Narey were present throughout these incidents and investigation revealed that they partook, with the defendant, in penning similar derogatory comments about Ms. Prince on the library sign in sheet, as well as visibly displaying affection toward each other in Ms. Prince's line of sight as the defendant taunted her (Ms. Prince),

Thereafter, at the end of the school day on January 14th, at approximately 2PM, students were congregating in the auditorium area of the high school. The defendant was
in this area, in the presence of Sean Mulveyhill and Kayla Narey,as various other students passed by the trio, Multiple witnesses have reported to investigators that the defendant again partook in a verbal assault of Ms. Prince as she (Ms. Prince) made her way past the group, en route to the main doors of the building. The defendant started yelling Ht Ms. Prince. According to one witness, the defendant called Ms. Prince a "whore" and also stated, "...why don't you just open your legs," According to this
witness, the defendant was "calling" Ms. Prince "out" and Ms. Prince "just kept walking." This incident occurred just after the witnesses heard Sean Mulveyhill and the defendant talking about Ms. Prince and calling her names.

The witness heard both Sean Mulveyhill and the defendant call Ms, Prince a "whore". As the defendant spoke, the witness said the other students stopped, "Everyone was silent". The witnesses observed that Sean Mulveyhill encouraged the defendant's behavior. Another witness heard Sean Mulveyhill prompt the defendant by saying, "Here she comes," just prior to Ms. Prince walking by the trio, Immediate!y thereafter, the defendant called Ms. Prince a "slut" and talked about her (Ms. Prince) opening her legs for some guy. Investigators learned that Kayla Narey was sitting next to the defendant at the time that the defendant was yelling at Ms. Prince and Kayla Narey was laughing.

Investigators also have learned about a third incident that occurred just minutes after the incident in the auditorium area involving the defendant and Phoebe Prince. A
witness reported that, upon leaving school, the defendant left the school parking lot in a friend's Car. Ms. Prince had already left school grounds and was walking home on
Newton Street, on the same side of the road as the high school. As the vehicle in which the defendant was riding passed Ms. Prince, the defendant took an empty energy drink can, called Monster Drink, that was inside the vehicle and threw it at Ms. Prince. According to the witness, she remembered hearing the can hit the ground, but did not know if it hit Ms. Prince. The witness reported that as the defendant threw the can at Phoebe. that she (the defendant) said something degrading to her like "Whore." The defendant Started laughing and reported that Ms. Prince was crying as she walked home. Witnesses stated that Ms. Prince's, reactions to the actions previously described incidents varied from fear and apprehension to crying; and that, at various times, these actions interfered with her school! environment.

From boston.com

You would think this would give the bullies who hounded Phoebe some pause. Instead, they went on Facebook and mocked her in death. They told State Police detectives they did nothing wrong, had nothing to do with Phoebe killing herself. And then they went right back to school and started badmouthing Phoebe.

They had a dance, a cotillion, at the Log Cabin in Holyoke two days after Phoebe’s sister found her in the closet, and some who were there say one of the Mean Girls bragged about how she played dumb with the detectives who questioned her.

Last week, one of the Springfield TV stations sent a crew to South Hadley High to talk to the kids.

One girl was interviewed on camera, and she said what was common knowledge: that bullies were stalking the corridors of South Hadley High. As soon as the TV crew was out of sight, one of the Mean Girls came up and slammed the girl who had been interviewed against a locker and punched her in the head.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/nytdocs/docs/308/308.pdf

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/01/24/the_untouchable_mean_girls/

[provis99]

2. two Boston Irish called her an "Irish slut"?

The world is a bizarre place.

[Bonobo]

6. South Hadley is in Western Mass about 2 hours from Boston. nt

[myrna minx]

7. This has a great deal to do with class structure. Also- this took place in in Western MA. n/t

[tolucano]

9. They are actually only boston irish if they

were born in ireland, irish is a nationality. This girls were not irish, they were of irish heritage possibly. The dead girl was irish.

It's like some latinos born in the us calling themselves mexican (and others in the us calling them mexican). I am mexican, it's a nationality, they are not. I have also heard latinos of mexican heritage calling mexicans "mexican _____". They are not really mexicans, they girls are not really irish.

The us is funny. If someone is born here in mexico, they are mexican and that is it. There are people in the us that like to call themselves american plus the country where their ancestors come from. It is actually not correct, most of those places are nationaliy and not races. Irish american or mexican american is only correct if that person came from ireland or mexico and became citizens of the usa. I never have heard of anyone here in mexico that became mexican citizen call themselves american mexican, french mexican, guatamalteco mexicano, etc. I think the use of those terms cause more separation in peopole.

[provis99]

13. Mexico is no different than the US.

People divide themselves into White Mexicans, mestizo Mexicans, Indian Mexicans. Among whites there are ethnic associations for those descended from European settlers, so you have German-Mexican associations and ethnic identity, Mennonite ethnic associations, there are entire towns mostly settled by Italian-mexicans.

Canada, Argentina, and Brazil are no different than the US in that its citizens identify themselves by their immigrant ancestor's country of origin. My Brazilian cousin in law identifies himself as Jewish\French, though he was born and raised in Brazil of Brazilian parents and grandparents.

Finally, regardless of how Mexicans see themselves, ethnic identity is still strong in the United States. When one person asks another person what they are, they do not respond "American" (except in the South, where American=English ancestry), rather they would say Irish-American, or German-American, or whatever.

You are confusing ethnic identity or nationalism with citizenship.

[tolucano]

14. Sorry, you are nationality with race.

Irish, italian, mexican are all nationalities. Unless one was born in or a citizen of ireland, italy, mexico they could not possibly be irish, italian, mexican, americans. They would just be americans. White, mestizo or indian has nothing to do with nationalities and nobody here calls themselves white, mestizo or indian mexicans. They are ALL mexicans with those heritages. These you name are like caucasian, latino, etc. in the us.n Mexican american is something totally different than american with a mexican heritage.

If a white person from africa moved to and became a us citizen they would be african american. Someone who's ancestors came from africa originally but was born in the us they would be american with an african heritage. Two different things.

Again there are many white people that become mexicans and they are not american mexicans, they are mexicans. Mexican is not a race, it's a nationality. Mexican and mexican citizen is the same thing, it describes our nationality not race. Just like in the usa. Everyone that becomes an american citizen is an american.

To sum it up, white mestizo and indian are races here, mexican is our nationality. Irish, italian, etc. are not races, they are nationalities.

[plumbob]

4. Weak. We'll be reading about these folks in a more horrendous way

later.

Why bother sentencing them to anything at all?

Someone is dead. That doesn't warrant a few days of picking up trash off the side of the road.

[Dappleganger]

11. A number of these high school students have parents who are attorneys and professors.

From what I have gathered there is an entrenched culture of bullying and classism in South Hadley High as well as some others (but that one is quite pronounced). Parents are in denial, know how to use the system and law enforcement tends to favor the parents who are part of the problem.

This particular area is one of many we researched when my husband was job searching, and we turned it down for various reasons (this being one of them, we didn't think our children would fit in).

[Dappleganger]

12. Masslive.com is probably a better place to read about this story...

Go back as far as you can and read, especially the readers comments.

Here's a link to all the stories: http://topics.masslive.com/tag/phoebe-prince/index.html