In a complicated court case with no happy ending, two teenagers Wednesday were placed on probation after admitting they harassed a classmate who later killed herself.
The unprecedented case against 15-year-old Phoebe Prince's alleged tormentors focused the country's attention on the problem of school bullying.
Prosecutors Wednesday dropped the most serious charges in the case, but said they had nonetheless sent a message that "bullying and harassment will not be tolerated in our schools."
Charges against three more former South Hadley High School students appear to be on course for similar outcomes today.
In Hampshire Superior Court Wednesday, defendant Kayla Narey offered a tearful apology to Prince's survivors, as well as to her own family and town. "I am immensely ashamed of myself that I allowed my emotions to spiral into acts of unkindness," Narey said.
Narey, 18, of 211 Mosier St., South Hadley, submitted to facts sufficient for a guilty finding on a misdemeanor charge of criminal harassment. Judge C. Jeffrey Kinder continued the case without a finding for a year, which means the charge will be dismissed after a certain period - in this case, a year, providing Narey stays out of trouble. The prosecution and defense recommended the resolution to Kinder.
In a separate hearing, Mulveyhill, 18, of 107 Lyman St., South Hadley, pleaded guilty to criminal harassment. Following the recommendation of the prosecution and defense, Kinder placed him on probation for a year.
Prosecutors dropped other charges against both defendants, including disturbing a school assembly and a civil rights violation resulting in bodily injury, which is a felony.
Mulveyhill also had been charged with statutory rape for allegedly having sex with Prince. That charge was also dropped.
The unprecedented case against 15-year-old Phoebe Prince's alleged tormentors focused the country's attention on the problem of school bullying.
Prosecutors Wednesday dropped the most serious charges in the case, but said they had nonetheless sent a message that "bullying and harassment will not be tolerated in our schools."
Charges against three more former South Hadley High School students appear to be on course for similar outcomes today.
In Hampshire Superior Court Wednesday, defendant Kayla Narey offered a tearful apology to Prince's survivors, as well as to her own family and town. "I am immensely ashamed of myself that I allowed my emotions to spiral into acts of unkindness," Narey said.
Narey, 18, of 211 Mosier St., South Hadley, submitted to facts sufficient for a guilty finding on a misdemeanor charge of criminal harassment. Judge C. Jeffrey Kinder continued the case without a finding for a year, which means the charge will be dismissed after a certain period - in this case, a year, providing Narey stays out of trouble. The prosecution and defense recommended the resolution to Kinder.
In a separate hearing, Mulveyhill, 18, of 107 Lyman St., South Hadley, pleaded guilty to criminal harassment. Following the recommendation of the prosecution and defense, Kinder placed him on probation for a year.
Prosecutors dropped other charges against both defendants, including disturbing a school assembly and a civil rights violation resulting in bodily injury, which is a felony.
Mulveyhill also had been charged with statutory rape for allegedly having sex with Prince. That charge was also dropped.
First Assistant Northwestern District Attorney Steven Gagne told Kinder that dropping the charges was "in the best interest of justice." Prince's family supported the recommendations in both cases, Gagne said.
Prince's death and the indictment of her classmates generated an international media frenzy early last year. News outlets from outside the Valley have continued to follow developments in the court cases against her accused tormentors.
One condition the judge imposed Wednesday is that Mulveyhill and Narey can't cash in on the story - at least for the next year while they're on probation. That restriction was proposed by the prosecution, and neither defense team opposed it.
Both defendants will also be required to do 100 hours of community service focused on at-risk or underprivileged youth.
Damage control
Narey's lawyer, Michael Jennings, said in court Wednesday that his client had been "skewered across the globe" as a result of the extensive media coverage. Jennings said public opinion about his client was wrong.
Jennings said he had tears in his eyes the first time he reviewed evidence in the case, which he said included some of Prince's poems and drawings. He said the evidence gave him a sense of a creative and engaging person and that her death was a "tragedy."
"Kayla Narey is also a wonderful girl," Jennings continued. "Most of her life has been perfect. Her behavior has been perfect. She's done all the right things before this."
Jennings recited a long list of the volunteer activities Narey had participated in, and said she had always done well academically. Like her co-defendants, Narey left school after being charged, but Jennings said she had gone on to earn a diploma.
The defense lawyer also filled in details of how Narey and Prince met and came into conflict.
The two only met about a month before Prince's death. Prince had a brief romantic relationship with Mulveyhill, not knowing that Mulveyhill and Narey were dating. Prince approached Narey at school Dec. 10, 2009, to apologize. Afterward, Narey sent Mulveyhill a text message that said, "We're done."
The next day Prince and Narey had another conversation, which Jennings described as civil. At the end Narey told Prince, "I have more respect for you than I do for my boyfriend."
But after Christmas vacation, word made its way around school that Prince had had a relationship with another boy - Austin Renaud - who also had a girlfriend - Flannery Mullins. When Narey heard this, her "worst instincts took over," Jennings said, and she began to say unkind things about Prince to other classmates.
Word had also gotten around that Prince tried to kill herself a month earlier. Narey felt this was more an attempt to get attention than a real suicide attempt. Writing on Facebook.com, Narey posed a question: If Prince was so suicidal, why haven't we gotten her to kill herself? "It was a terrible thing to say," Jennings said.
Narey told Kinder that her parents had taught her to be kind and considerate to others, but that she lost sight of those values because of her rivalry with Prince.
"It was my hurt, anger and jealousy that caused my attitude to change," she said. "I was the weak one, and that failure will always be with me."
Jennings said Narey admitted her actions in an interview with state police six days after Prince's death.
Mulveyhill did not speak in court, and his lawyer, Vincent Bongiorni, was brief in his remarks to the judge. They left the courthouse without speaking to reporters
Bongionri said Mulveyhill had no prior criminal record and had complied with release conditions while the charges were pending. He noted all the harassment to which Mulveyhill admitted took place in the span of a few hours one day.
Prosecution's case
Gagne described how harassment followed Prince's conversations with Narey.
Mulveyhill began calling Prince "disparaging" names, and encouraged Narey and their friend Ashley Longe to do the same. Asked by one of Prince's friends how he could be so mean to someone he once cared for, Mulveyhill responded that "she was no longer 'his problem,'" Gagne said.
On Jan. 14, hours before Prince hanged herself, Narey wrote a "slur" next to Prince's name on the school library sign-in sheet, and shouted disparaging names at her from across the room.
Later, outside the auditorium, Mulveyhill tried to get Longe to punch Prince. Instead, Longe launched into a "verbal tirade," Gagne said, "putting on a show and being harsh." Mulveyhill and Narey egged her on.
While Prince was walking home, Longe threw an empty drink can at her from a passing car. Longe told Mulveyhill via text message what she'd done, and Mulveyhill replied, "Good job." Mulveyhill texted Longe later to say he'd seen Prince crying, adding, "ha ha."
In final text messages to a friend before she hanged herself, Prince wrote, "I think Sean condoning this is one of the final nails in my coffin. I can't take much more - it would be easier if he or any one of them handed me a noose."
Reading from a statement after the hearings, Gagne said Mulveyhill and Narey had "publicly accepted responsibility for their actions, and have been held accountable."
Gagne said that when bullying "rises to the level of criminal conduct, as it did in these two cases, those responsible will be prosecuted."
Mullins, Longe and a fifth defendant, Sharon Chanon Velazquez, are due in Franklin Hampshire Juvenile Court today. Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan plans to hold a press conference afterward.
Renaud is not charged in connection with the bullying but faces a single statutory rape charge for allegedly having sexual contact with Prince. He has pleaded not guilty, and his attorney says they do not have a plea agreement in place with prosecutors.
Prince's death and the indictment of her classmates generated an international media frenzy early last year. News outlets from outside the Valley have continued to follow developments in the court cases against her accused tormentors.
One condition the judge imposed Wednesday is that Mulveyhill and Narey can't cash in on the story - at least for the next year while they're on probation. That restriction was proposed by the prosecution, and neither defense team opposed it.
Both defendants will also be required to do 100 hours of community service focused on at-risk or underprivileged youth.
Damage control
Narey's lawyer, Michael Jennings, said in court Wednesday that his client had been "skewered across the globe" as a result of the extensive media coverage. Jennings said public opinion about his client was wrong.
Jennings said he had tears in his eyes the first time he reviewed evidence in the case, which he said included some of Prince's poems and drawings. He said the evidence gave him a sense of a creative and engaging person and that her death was a "tragedy."
"Kayla Narey is also a wonderful girl," Jennings continued. "Most of her life has been perfect. Her behavior has been perfect. She's done all the right things before this."
The defense lawyer also filled in details of how Narey and Prince met and came into conflict.
The two only met about a month before Prince's death. Prince had a brief romantic relationship with Mulveyhill, not knowing that Mulveyhill and Narey were dating. Prince approached Narey at school Dec. 10, 2009, to apologize. Afterward, Narey sent Mulveyhill a text message that said, "We're done."
The next day Prince and Narey had another conversation, which Jennings described as civil. At the end Narey told Prince, "I have more respect for you than I do for my boyfriend."
But after Christmas vacation, word made its way around school that Prince had had a relationship with another boy - Austin Renaud - who also had a girlfriend - Flannery Mullins. When Narey heard this, her "worst instincts took over," Jennings said, and she began to say unkind things about Prince to other classmates.
Word had also gotten around that Prince tried to kill herself a month earlier. Narey felt this was more an attempt to get attention than a real suicide attempt. Writing on Facebook.com, Narey posed a question: If Prince was so suicidal, why haven't we gotten her to kill herself? "It was a terrible thing to say," Jennings said.
Narey told Kinder that her parents had taught her to be kind and considerate to others, but that she lost sight of those values because of her rivalry with Prince.
"It was my hurt, anger and jealousy that caused my attitude to change," she said. "I was the weak one, and that failure will always be with me."
Jennings said Narey admitted her actions in an interview with state police six days after Prince's death.
Mulveyhill did not speak in court, and his lawyer, Vincent Bongiorni, was brief in his remarks to the judge. They left the courthouse without speaking to reporters
Bongionri said Mulveyhill had no prior criminal record and had complied with release conditions while the charges were pending. He noted all the harassment to which Mulveyhill admitted took place in the span of a few hours one day.
Prosecution's case
Gagne described how harassment followed Prince's conversations with Narey.
Mulveyhill began calling Prince "disparaging" names, and encouraged Narey and their friend Ashley Longe to do the same. Asked by one of Prince's friends how he could be so mean to someone he once cared for, Mulveyhill responded that "she was no longer 'his problem,'" Gagne said.
On Jan. 14, hours before Prince hanged herself, Narey wrote a "slur" next to Prince's name on the school library sign-in sheet, and shouted disparaging names at her from across the room.
Later, outside the auditorium, Mulveyhill tried to get Longe to punch Prince. Instead, Longe launched into a "verbal tirade," Gagne said, "putting on a show and being harsh." Mulveyhill and Narey egged her on.
While Prince was walking home, Longe threw an empty drink can at her from a passing car. Longe told Mulveyhill via text message what she'd done, and Mulveyhill replied, "Good job." Mulveyhill texted Longe later to say he'd seen Prince crying, adding, "ha ha."
In final text messages to a friend before she hanged herself, Prince wrote, "I think Sean condoning this is one of the final nails in my coffin. I can't take much more - it would be easier if he or any one of them handed me a noose."
Reading from a statement after the hearings, Gagne said Mulveyhill and Narey had "publicly accepted responsibility for their actions, and have been held accountable."
Gagne said that when bullying "rises to the level of criminal conduct, as it did in these two cases, those responsible will be prosecuted."
Mullins, Longe and a fifth defendant, Sharon Chanon Velazquez, are due in Franklin Hampshire Juvenile Court today. Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan plans to hold a press conference afterward.
Renaud is not charged in connection with the bullying but faces a single statutory rape charge for allegedly having sexual contact with Prince. He has pleaded not guilty, and his attorney says they do not have a plea agreement in place with prosecutors.
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