Posted on 04/11/2010 8:52:46 PM PDT by jerry557
The attorney for one of six South Hadley High School students accused of bullying Phoebe Prince in the months leading up to her suicide is asking for highly personal information about her, a move decried by a former prosecutor and victims advocates as “unconscionable.”
In a six-page motion filed in Northampton Superior Court, Terrence M. Dunphy, the lawyer for Austin Renaud, asks for the names of any physicians, psychologists or rape counselors Prince saw; any medical and psychological records viewed by the prosecutor; details of any prior allegations of rape or abuse by Prince; and a statement as to whether her family had been the subject of a Department of Children and Families investigation.
“It’s standard procedure,” Dunphy, whose client is one of two boys charged with statutory rape, said of the request. “The document speaks for itself. I’m not explaining anything.”
Wendy Murphy, a former prosecutor who teaches at the New England School of Law, called the move “unconscionable,” arguing that the state’s highest court has ruled that the defendant in a criminal case is not entitled to a “laundry list of everyone the victim’s ever been treated by.”
There is a “very narrow” exception, Murphy said, in which the defense has to explicitly show there is something in the alleged victim’s file that will affect the defendant’s chance of a fair trial.
“But in this case, it’s not only overly broad, it’s exceedingly premature,” she said, adding that Prince never accused anyone of statutory rape - consensual sex with a minor. “I can only see it as a threat to unveil all the family secrets.”
If Dunphy pursues it, Murphy said, prosecutors have a right to “reciprocal discovery,” or the same type of information about the defendants.
(Excerpt) Read more at bostonherald.com ...
Electronics have made for a difficult new landscape for parents of teens. I, too, have been through a long ordeal with a teen and a long-distance invisible boyfriend.
It is thoroughly creepy and figuring out what to do about it is bewildering.
How can they harass him on FB unless they are “friends”—these “friends” can at least be excluded from his wall, and he can avoid visiting their walls.
The younger the teen, the more likely you can contact the parent. And they should be reminded that whatever they put on FB will live forever.
90% of the time, I really hate facebook. Do you think you could get him to either shut it down or just avoid it most of the time?
I can only imagine what it is like for a parent to plan their funeral instead of wedding. I think a huge reason that so many people are ticked that they are tired of hearing stories about children dying so soon and early.
This isn’t about bullying. They stalked her after school and followed her around, throwing things at her. The reason people around this country are all for pressing charges is because so many parents have paid for the funerals of their CHILDREN and friends have lost friends they’ll never share the good times with and how many out there will never meet them and have children and a family life with.
When we discuss abortion, we mention all the aborted babies who will never have friends and how many aborted babies will never have families etc. and yet you think that this was JUST bullying. This was stalking, harrassment, and then one of the little bastards bragged about lying to the police.
I agree.
The person commented about rape in general - I commented about rape in general. I did not comment about statutory rape, in which defense 2 does not apply.
Why are you so against the prosecution mounting their case and letting the defendants defend themselves against the accusations. So far this has been tried in the media. They may well be guilty of all charges, but the hysteria I see on these threads is amazing.
Because it’s too much for too many people. It’s been gotten away with for too long and people are sick and tired of this rot that infests our schools. This is simply the straw that broke the nation’s back in regards to this. It’s been held back and while the defendants are disgustingly guilty, they symbolize all the misery that bullies have heaped on innocents.
I agree with much of what you have posted. This case is being tried in the realm of public opinion by the media hype.
You wish to take away the civil rights of these defendants because “it’s been gotten away with for too long and people are sick and tired of this rot that infests our schools.”?
Amazing! And to read this on FR...even more amazing!
They stalked her outside of school and threw phsyical threats at her. That is a crime. Having sex with someone underge when you are eighteen is statutory rape. That’s why they are being charged with crimes. The reason people are lashing out is because they are sick of seeing and experiencing this stuff day in and day out at school.
Are you seeing this stuff day in and day out at school?
There was apparently ONE throwing incident, of a can of energy soda. Sorry, I don’t see this as a crisis of the proportions you list.
None of us has all the facts, you are simply reacting to tabloid fodder.
The fact is, kids without emotional issues do not kill themselves. Girls who are emotionally healthy, also do not engage in sexual activities with multiple partners as freshmen.
I was bullied relentlessly in my interior design class. My feeble attempts at standing up for myself were quashed.
That too.
Getting my Interior Design degree was one helluva long abusive experience! LOL! They started with 50 students and two years later there were 10 of us left! The instructors (and the aggressive fellow students) were bound and determined to weed out the weak, the untalented. SOP for design department degrees.
Made me a better presenter, made me work harder and strive to be the best.
>>Remember—this is a suicide. Not a murder. What you have here are people being accused of being mean teens. Any of you have any teens who were mean?
>
>No, it’s a mobbing,
Six people is a mob? I think it would be more of a clique.
>which is a coordinated, extensive and premeditated psychological attack to cause harm to someone.
How is this different from how the “Jocks treat the nerds” or any of that sort of high-school social dynamic?
>Driving them to suicide is called “intentional harm” - and that turns the suicide into homicide.
And if I make a no-bones, open, declaration that I think you’re a dumb-ass [and don’t like you], and you go and kill yourself how does that make me culpable? The other option, that I think you’re a dumb-ass [and don’t like you], yet keep everything hidden [to the point of pretending that you’re ‘a-ok’] seems a bit dishonest...
>Any of you have teens who coordinated vicious psychological mobbing attacks over a period of months with intent to destroy - and then write gleeful facebook posts celebrating the death?
Certainly it’s insensitive and unsympathetic, but how is it *criminal* to be glad that someone you despise is dead? [John Murtha, anyone?] If, say, Nancy Pelosi were to die and you saw a facebook post saying that was a good thing; would you support an investigation into that person based solely on that comment?
>Is THAT what you mean by “teens who are mean”?
I’m not sure what the previous poster meant by it.
>Since you seem so bound and determined to slime and desecrate this dead minor girl’s memory it occurs to me to wonder, are you possibly a member of the Westboro Baptist Church? Have a good nite.
There’s a difference here, the members of Westboro are, at most, insensitive and tasteless... while this kid has his life and reputation on the line because of what he is accused of. An accusation does NOT make one guilty of that accusation, which is why we have defense attorneys and trials.
The defendant(s) absolutely deserve a fair trial, and I challenge you to show me where I said different, HOWEVER, the victim here does not deserve a trial, which is all a request for her medical records is, that is, specifically a way to slime the victim. That is not part of a fair trial.
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