Posted on 04/12/2008 11:50:59 AM PDT by stainlessbanner
BARTOW, Fla. -- One of eight teens accused of taking part in the notorious videotaped "animalistic" beating of another Central Florida teen snickered while a judge issued bail on Friday.
April Cooper, 14, giggled and attempted to hold in her laughter as she was told that she was being held on $36,000 bond, Local 6 News reported. It's not known why Cooper giggled.
A judge set bails ranging from $30,000 to $37,000 for each during their first court appearances.
They also were ordered to stay away from their high school and Internet social networking sites, such as MySpace. The judge also ordered them not to have any contact with the victim or each other.
The accused range in age from 14 to 18. The state attorney's office said all will be tried as adults on charges that include kidnapping.
The judge has ordered everyone involved in the case not to talk to the media. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd called the incident "animalistic" attack when he released the video on Monday.
The videotape of the beating has been viewed widely on national TV and the Internet this week.
Families Seek Protection
Families of the teens accused in the beating have received death threats from across the country after their addresses and phone numbers were posted on the Internet, inside a YouTube video.
The new YouTube video calls out for the public to take action, saying, "let your voices be heard."
The video then posts the girls' names, their phone numbers, addresses and other information.
Local 6 reported that some of the families have spoken with deputies about the possibility of getting protection for their safety.
The six girls are accused of luring Victoria Lindsay to a home so they could videotape her beating over some apparent online "trash talk."
Stephen Schumaker and Zachary Ashley are accused of acting as lookouts during the attack.
Schumaker, the only one of the eight arrested to be released from jail, told Local 6 that his family is receiving death threats from all over the United States.
"I don't see why I'm even in this whole situation," Schumaker said in an interview for Local 6.
The videotaped beating was seen by more than 500,000 people as of Thursday night and prompted e-mails to Local6.com from all over the country.
It was the most-viewed video on YouTube at one point Thursday, Local 6 reported.
Wrong Information Posted Online
Meanwhile, an innocent family was targeted by angry callers after their information was mistakenly posted online.
The couple said they got around 300 angr
y, abusive calls from all over the country Wednesday.
Would one year in jail be too much for you?
....and I would also venture a guess that whole bunch of tattoos are involved....probably piercings as well.
I have no difficulty with Florida's decision to “ruin” the lives of all the sweet little darlings who did this. If any of them or their parents violate the judge's gag order, I hope the judge treats them accordingly. No more excuses for this bs.
Thank you for the update. So sad for this young girl. I hope she makes a full recovery.
“The Tampa paper reported yesterday that the victim has hearing loss in her left ear and vision problems in one of her eyes. Time will tell if she recovers from either of those, if she doesn’t have additional brain damage, not to mention if she isn’t a bit scarred psychologically from the gangsta beating she survived.”
thanks for the info.
And there we have it...a victim who could very likely have been permanently damaged.
How would any of us feel if this victim were our own daughter?
Sympathy for the gangstas?
No way.
A judge set bails ranging from $30,000 to $37,000 for each during their first court appearances.
Seems like awfully low bail.
So they only need to come up with $3,700 or less? Wow.
Dr. Phil is a worthless p.o.s.
Ain’t his fifteen minutes over yet?
Captain - I have no sympathy for real criminals. These girls have crossed the line and there should be consequences. I do feel that in some ways their parents and other adults in their life are partially responsible, as is the perverse culture.
I don’t have too much sympathy for 18 year olds.....however, I do have problem with book being thrown at 14 year olds.
In our Country we charge people with statutory rape if they have sex with girls under 18. People are not allowed to take advantage of Minors even if they were NOT forced and gave their consent.
In that case we take the decision away from the kids because they are kids. Doesn’t matter what they think or want. Doesn’t matter if they gave their consent or not, they don’t know what is right or wrong. However here, in this case, we charge them with kidnapping and expect them to have exact same sense of responsibility and right and wrongs, as adults.
I think because this has become MEDIA CASE, now everyone in the justice/law-enforncement/politics has to show their muscles to prove how tough they are. If it wasn’t a MEDIA CASE, they would probably not be punished as much as they are going to be punished now.
One year or 5 years, but where every we send those 14 year olds, we should make sure they have positive enviorment around them. Other wise that punishment turns into a life-sentence, which is not fair.
That was my first thought.
Then put it on YouTube, MySpace, GirlsGoneWildGetTheir AssesKicked, etc.
The ones who beat her, the word “fair” is not one I would worry about. They deserve adult sentences.
A ‘fair’ sentence:
Each of them gets beaten til unconscious in jail, then when they recover, they get beaten again. Oh, make sure this video gets posted on the web.
Then, after they are released into the wild, they individually get invited (lured) to a ‘welcome home’ party, where they each get beaten til unconscious, then when they recover...
I think you get the idea.
One of the girls and one of the guys drove her home and threatened to finish the job if she told anyone.
The girls were certainly committing evil acts.
You're not under the mistaken impression that the Holocaust began with herding Jews onto trains and gassing them to death in camps, do you?
The Holocaust began with attacks on individual jews by bullies who were then not held legally accountable for that crime. When others with evil intentions saw that there was no negative consequence for such actions, the number of attacks increased. The majority of Germans were willing to look the other way and tolerate the evil rather than fight it.
Hopefully you have raised children who will take care of you. I did.
susie
So because of these girls we are in danger of Holocaust now?
“One of the girls and one of the guys drove her home and threatened to finish the job if she told anyone”
Lovely.
She should have immediately been seen at a hospital for tests on her brain, but she received threats instead.
What nice children.
http://search.playlist.com/tracks/the%2520night%2520chicago%2520died#
They also may face a jury, which if they were tried as juveniles only the judge would be present.
Serious stuff.
what they did was serious stuff.
They could have killed her.
they even threatened her after they were done when they should have taken her to the hospital.
They will get their defense attorneys to argue their case.
At least none of them have to worry about brain damage, sight or hearing loss - unlike their victim.
Unfortunately for them, Florida doesn’t have any sense of humor, muchless their sense of humor. They are going to throw the book at them.
For acting out a fantasy, their lifes are ruined.
I take it your daughter was not the victim. Stupid kids do stupid things, but the victim was severely injured, and these punks think it was funny. Five years in jail will straighten them out, and a life as a convenience store clerk should be good enough for them.
What happened to the value of human life? Where is the compassion in their hearts? Further, they have no sense of fair play. Jail time will convince them that their actions were truly stupid.
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