The plea agreements all pertained to juvenile charges, conviction of which would have resulted in detention at a Massachusetts Department of Youth Services facility. Watch video
Left to right, Phoebe Prince bullying case defendants Ashley Longe, Flannery Mullins and Sharon Velazquez are seen in Franklin-Hampshire Juvenile Court in Hadley on Thursday.HADLEY - Although the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office has now reached resolutions with all six defendants in the Phoebe Prince bullying case, the public might need a scorecard to sort out all the legal implications of three of the four deals struck Thursday.
Sharon Velazquez, 17, Ashley Longe, 18, and Flannery Mullins, 18, were all charged as juveniles in the case because they were under the age of 17 at the time of the alleged crimes. As such, their cases would ordinarily have been shielded from public view.
However, former District Attorney Elizabeth D. Scheibel also charged the three as youthful offenders, a designation that opens the cases to public scrutiny. When the juvenile and youthful offender charges were joined, everything was thrown open.
All three were charged with criminal harassment, violation of civil rights resulting in bodily injury and disturbing a school assembly. In addition, Velazquez and Mullins were charged with stalking and Longe with assault.
Velazquez and Longe admitted to sufficient facts for a guilty finding on the criminal harassment charges, Mullins to disturbing a school assembly and as much of the civil rights violation as constituted a misdemeanor, meaning absent the “bodily injury” portion. Civil rights violation resulting in bodily injury is a felony.
Admitting to sufficient facts for a guilty finding is not a guilty plea but an acknowledgment that the prosecution could secure a guilty verdict if the case went to trial. By the terms of the agreements, those charges will be continued without a finding for a period of time. In Velazquez’ case, that’s until she turns 18 on July 8. Because Mullins and Longe have already turned 18, their charges are continued until their 19th birthdays. Mullins’ is Jan. 17, 2012. Longe’s is April 28, 2012.
The charges will be dismissed with prejudice when each defendant reaches her birthday, meaning that they cannot be brought again by the prosecution.
The plea agreements all pertained to juvenile charges, conviction of which would have resulted in detention at a Massachusetts Department of Youth Services facility. In that case, the defendants would have been found “delinquent.” The juvenile charges were public because the youthful offender charges had not yet been resolved. Those were dropped only after the judge accepted the plea agreements.
As terms of their probation, the period during which their charges are being continued, each defendant must stay away from the Prince family unless the family consents otherwise, earn a GED or high school diploma and perform community service. Longe and Mullins must perform 100 hours of community service with at-risk or underprivileged youth. Because her birthday is only two months away, Velazquez was required to perform only 50 hours of community service. At the request of the Prince family, however, she is encouraged to voluntarily perform 50 additional hours.
As a final term of their probation, none of the defendants may profit from their involvement with Prince or the cases resulting from it.
Three of the defendants were charged as adults.
On Wednesday, Sean Mulveyhill and Kayla Narey, both 18, had their day in court. Because they were 17 at the time of the alleged crimes, they were charged as adults.
Narey admitted to sufficient facts for a guilty finding on the criminal harassment charge. That charge will be dropped after a year’s probation. Mulveyhill pleaded guilty to the same charge and will have it on his criminal record. He was also ordered to serve a year’s probation. Charges of civil rights violation resulting in bodily injury, disturbing a school assembly and statutory rape were dropped against Mulveyhill. The prosecution also dropped the civil rights and school assembly charges against Narey. The terms of their probation are similar to those of the youthful offenders.
Later Thursday, the state dropped its single charge against the sixth defendant, Austin Renaud, 18. He was not accused of bullying Prince but was charged with statutory rape for allegedly sleeping with her when she was under the legal age of consent.