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Pretrial Hearings Set For 5 Teens In Polk Beating Case

News Channel 8 photo by ERIC HAUSMANN

Brittany Mayes, one of the defendants in the Polk County videotaped beating case, waits for her court hearing to begin.

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TBO.com

Published: July 8, 2008

Attorneys for the five teens accused of beating one of their peers in Lakeland and videotaping with the intent to post online were at a court hearing today in Bartow.

The incident March 30 was recorded and became infamous because the teenagers planned to post the footage on MySpace and YouTube in retaliation for 16-year-old Victoria Lindsay trash-talking them online, according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office.

Today's hearing was mostly procedural. The judge set a new pretrial hearing for all five teenagers accused of kidnapping and battery: Brittany Mayes, April Cooper, Kayla Hassell, Brittni Hardcastle and Mercades Nichols.

Cooper and Mayes were the only ones to physically show up in court today. The other three waived their appearances.

"We just feel that it would be in her best interest to sort of cushion her a little bit from the blow of everything that's going on," said Michelle Barnard, Nichols' attorney. "It's very important for her mental state right now."

All five defendants are scheduled for another pretrial hearing Aug. 26.

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