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Timeline Of Polk Teen Beating Case

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TBO.com

Published: March 5, 2009

On March 30, 2008 six teenage girls confronted 16-year old Victoria Lindsay about trash-talking about them online and in cell phone text messages. The six girls took turns punching and kicking Lindsay while they video tape the beating. Two teenaged boys stood watch outside the Lakeland home to warn the girls inside. Here are the events that followed.

April 6 - The eight teens are arrested and charged with felony false imprisonment and battery. They are April Cooper, 14, Kayla Hassell, 15, Cara Murphy, 16, Stephen Shumaker, 18, and Zachary Ashley, Brittini Hardcastle, Brittany Mayes and Mercades Nichols, all 17.

April 7 – The Polk County Sheriff's Office releases a three-minute segment of the video recording that the teens planned to post on MySpace and YouTube.

April 8 – Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd and Talisa Lindsay, the mother of Victoria appear on NBC's "The Today Show."

April 9 – As early as April 8, the video-taped beating appears on YouTube along with phone numbers and addresses of the teens accused in the beating. A woman bearing the same last name as one of teens, but not related to her receives threatening phone calls from people outraged by the incident.

April 9 - Polk Circuit Judge J. Michael McCarthy issues a gag order in the case in response to the petition of James R. Franklin, the attorney for Zachary Ashley.

April 10 – Prosecutors decide to try the eight teenage defendants as adults with the possible ultimate punishment of life in prison on the felony kidnapping charge.

April 11 - Judge Angela Cowden sets bail between $30,000 and $37,000 for the eight teens and they are barred from certain places, Web sites and contacting each other.

April 11 - Staff members for television psychologist Dr. Phil's show help post bail for Mercades Nichols.

April 12 - Another representative of the Dr. Phil show say the staff members had made a mistake and were being reprimanded for overstepping the show's rules.

April 15 – The 911 call received by Polk dispatchers is made public, but the caller is not identified.

April 18 – Victoria Lindsay, her father, other relatives and two parents of the suspects are quoted in a People magazine story that hits newsstands on this day, despite a judge's gag order in the case.

April 23 – The gag order is lifted and court records are released in the case revealing in the hours before the beating there was a spat between Lindsay and Mercades Nichols over a borrowed hairbrush and razor followed by a string of threatening phone text messages.

May 16 – New images of the beating and a longer video slip are released by authorities showing more of a verbal confrontation that occurred between Lindsay and one of her attackers.

May 30 - High-profile California lawyer Gloria Allred, who represented Paula Jones in President Clinton's sexual harassment case, appears in court as the representative of Victoria Lindsay.

June 2 – Mercades Nichols' attorney requests her house arrested by lifted and that she be permitted to speak to the media about the case.

June 3 - Judge Keith Spoto lifts Nichols' house arrest but he refuses to allow Nichols to travel or to talk to reporters about the attack.

June 13 - Charges are dropped against both boys accused in the incident, Stephen Thomas Schumaker and Zachary Ashley, as well as Cara Murphy. It is determined Schumaker and Ashley left the home to get gas and was not there at the time of the attack. Murphy was at the scene of the attack but did not take part.

June 26 – Despite prosecutors' opposition Judge Spoto lifts the house arrest order against Brittini Hardcastle so that she may attend church.

July 8 - A pretrial hearing is set for August 26 for Brittany Mayes, April Cooper, Kayla Hassell, Brittni Hardcastle and Mercades Nichols.

July 21 - The attorney representing Christina Garcia, the mother of one of the teens accused in the videotaped beating of Victoria Lindsay files a notice to sue Sheriff Grady Judd for making defamatory remarks.

August 7 – Mercades Nichols is arrested on charges not related to the video beating case. She is charged with multiple counts of aggravated stalking, aggravated assault and battery for stalking and threatening the complainant between Oct. 31, 2007 and March 28, 2008 even though Nichols knew an injunction had been placed against her.

January 20, 2009 – In a plea deal Brittany Mayes pleads guilty to one charge of misdemeanor battery in exchange for prosecutors dropping felony kidnapping and witness tampering charges. Sentencing is scheduled for March 5. As part of the plea deals she is prohibited from giving interviews to the media for profit and must also write a letter of apology.

January 27 – Mercades Nichols accepts a plea deal similar to the one agreed to by Mayes. Under the deal, Nichols will face up to three years' probation. Sentencing is scheduled for March 5. As part of the plea deals she is prohibited from giving interviews to the media for profit and must also write a letter of apology.

January 29 – Brittini Hardcastle pleads guilty to felony false imprisonment and misdemeanor battery. The plea agreement calls for three to five years of probation and possible jail time. Sentencing is scheduled for March 20. As part of the plea deals she is prohibited from giving interviews to the media for profit and must also write a letter of apology.

February 4 – April Cooper and Kayla Hassell accept plea deals. Cooper pleads guilty to two counts of misdemeanor battery and Hassell pleads no contest to misdemeanor battery. Prosecutors dropped a felony count of kidnapping. Both girls will be sentenced as juveniles by Judge Spoto March 11. As part of the plea deals they are prohibited from giving interviews to the media for profit and must also write letters of apology.

February 15 -Christina Garcia, 35, the mother of Mercades Nichols, is arrested on two counts of domestic battery after getting into two fights with Nichols. Garcia called the sheriff's office to say it was Nichols who attacked her, but interviews with Nichols and other witnesses revealed Garcia was the aggressor.

March 5 – Mayes is sentenced to one year probation and ordered to pay Lindsay's family $1,752 in restitution. Mayes is also ordered not to contact the victim, not to have an account on social networking sites and not to talk to the media for profit.

Tribune research by Michael Messano; Source: Tribune archives and wires

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