The lawyer are preparing motions to dismiss the charges against their clients, Ashley Longe, Flannery Mullins and Sharon Velazquez.
Alfred Chamberland, the lawyer for Flannery Mullins, and Colin Keefe, who represents Sharon Velazquez, will have new grand jury minutes to consider as they prepare their motions to dismiss the charges against their clients in the Phoebe Prince case. HADLEY – The lawyers for three juvenile defendants in the Phoebe Prince case have new grand jury minutes to consider as they prepare their motions to dismiss the charges against their clients.
Flannery Mullins, Ashley Longe and Sharon Velazquez are charged with violating the civil rights of Prince, a 15-year-old South Hadley High School freshman who took her life on Jan. 14, 2010, after what investigators described as weeks of harassment and bullying by classmates. Mullins and Velazquez are also charged with stalking Prince. The three are facing charges both as juveniles and youthful offenders. Sean Mulveyhill, Austin Renaud and Kayla Narey, who also attended South Hadley High School, were charged as adults.
All six cases have been under intense media scrutiny since former Northwestern District Attorney Elizabeth D. Scheibel announced the charges in March 2010, but the defense maintains it has been slow to receive information.
First Assistant District Attorney Steven Gagne, who is part of the new prosecution team under recently elected Northwestern District Attorney David E. Sullivan, told Judge Daniel J. Swords on Friday that he has filed a certificate of compliance indicating that he has now turned over to the defense all the information he has in the cases, including recently discovered grand jury minutes. Those minutes from a February grand jury session came to light last month when Assistant District Attorney Thomas H. Townsend, who is prosecuting the case against Renaud, found them filed under “Commonwealth v. Jane Doe.”
A.J. O'DonaldGagne also told Sword he has come to terms with the lawyers for Mullins, Longe and Velazquez on sharing information about Prince’s medical history. A.J. O’Donald, who represents Longe, Colin Keefe, who represents Velazquez, and Alfred Chamberland, the lawyer for Mullins, all filed motions to modify a protective order put in place to restrict the dissemination of that information. Under the agreement, the lawyers may discuss the material among themselves and provide it to their investigators.
The parties also agreed to extend the deadline for filing motions to dismiss the charges against Mullins, Longe and Velazquez to April 26. Swords set a hearing date for May 5 to argue those motions.