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Charges Dropped Against 3 Teens In Videotaped Beating

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By JOSH POLTILOVE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 13, 2008

Updated: 06/13/2008 08:50 pm

TAMPA -- Charges have been dropped against three of the eight teenagers accused of attacking a 16-year-old girl in Lakeland and recording the incident.

Charges were dropped against both boys accused in the incident, Stephen Thomas Schumaker and Zachary Ashley, as well as Cara Murphy, Polk County State Attorney's Office spokesman Chip Thullbery said.

Polk County deputies said the boys served as lookouts during the beating. But Schumaker's lawyer, Lawrence Chadband, said today that the boys weren't even there when the beating occurred.

"While it was going on, he and Zach had left the area and had gone to get gas at a gas station," Chadband said.

The eight teens were accused of beating Victoria Lindsay on March 30 at a Lakeland home.

The incident was recorded and became infamous because the teenagers planned to post the footage on MySpace and YouTube in retaliation to Lindsay trash-talking them online, the sheriff's office said.

Lindsay's attorney could not immediately be reached.

Polk County sheriff's Major Joe Halman Jr. said probable cause to arrest the boys came "based on the finding that they were present at the door when the victim was being beaten, and they even came inside."

When told by The Tampa Tribune that Schumaker's lawyer said that wasn't the case, Halman said. "Our investigation uncovered that we had probable cause to charge them with a crime, and they were charged accordingly."

Added sheriff's spokeswoman Carrie Rodgers in an e-mail to the Tribune: "All we can stand by is what is in their original affidavits and our original reports – just like any case, deputies fill out reports, take statements, do interviews, and turn everything over to the SAO. It's in their hands now & it all will come out in trial."

A document saying the state attorney's office won't prosecute the three was released this afternoon. Thullbery said the documents say there was insufficient evidence to further prosecute them.

Murphy's attorney, Melodie Lopez, said she was ecstatic that her client was vindicated.

"She was at the scene of where all this happened, but that was all that happened," Lopez said.

Bail ranging from $30,000 to $37,000 was set in April for all eight suspects, who range in age from 14 to 18. The amounts were more than double the standard for the charges they face: kidnapping, misdemeanor battery and tampering with a witness.

Each had been charged with the first two crimes; three of the girls also were charged with tampering.

The other teens arrested were Brittany Mayes, April Cooper, Kayla Hassell, Brittni Hardcastle and Mercades Nichols.

"At this point, we are continuing to prosecute those cases," Thullbery said.

Chadband said Schumaker had professed his innocence all along.

"I told him let him to let it work out, he believed in the process and it did," Chadband said.

Lopez agreed that the boys weren't even on scene when the incident occurred.

"Charging them was even worse than charging my client," she said.

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