Most people living any where in the US have heard about teenagers who post their “crimes” on Facebook or YouTube and then get caught. (And in a Criminal defense attorney‘s experience, I’ve seen plenty of “adults” do the same thing and get caught!)
Today’s St. Petersburg Times posted an article about the recent battery charges against some Mitchell High School girls who hit a girl on the bus, videoed it with their cell phone, then posted it online. Wasn’t really that hard for the police to find them, which is good because in Pasco, if they can’t shoot the fish in barrel, they give up. (Think the robbery of the Payless Shoe Store at 9:30 in the morning)
So the mother of the victim and the victim are in the paper, AGAIN, expressing their disbelief that the girls have pleaded NOT GUILTY. First of all, this mother and her daughter have been in the paper several times and on the news. Clearly, they’re waiting to file a lawsuit against SOMEONE, but know they have to wait until the girls are convicted. (note that the comments from readers underneath the news story mention a law suit several times.) Lakeland criminal lawyer will give you the best result of this type case.
Secondly, in every criminal case, the first court appearance merely tells a Defendant what he or she is charged with and allows the Defendant to plead either guilty or not guilty. Any halfway smart defendant, or anyone represented by an attorney, will ALWAYS PLEAD NOT GUILTY. Otherwise they are not entitled to seeing any of the evidence against them, like the police report or witness statement. It’s the way the system in AMERICA works. If this mother and her “victim” daughter want them to immediately be found guilty of the crime, with no presentation of evidence and witnesses, then perhaps they should move to Iraq.
Thirdly, because the “victim” in this case has made such a big deal out of this “crime”, an otherwise minor juvenile crime, which normally would be handled without any appearances in court, has become a giant waste of our tax dollars. Everyone is going to court, the press is there, it takes the judge twice as long to do anything because he wants to make a perfectly clear record in case of appeal. It’s a giant circus for a simple battery charge.
Let’s face it, everyone has a horror story from high school. And everyone did something in high school that wasn’t right, or they certainly wouldn’t do as an adult. Which is why there is a juvenile system in Florida, to allow children to accept responsibility for their mistakes but not wreck their lives with criminal convictions. I am not advocating what those girls did, I’m merely saying that the conduct of the victim, in going to the press with her woes, is somewhat suspect.