Three US teens plead not guilty over Phoebe death

THREE US teenagers previously indicted for charges related to the bullying death of County Clare schoolgirl Phoebe Prince entered not guilty pleas at a Massachusetts Court.

Sean Mulveyhill, 17, of South Hadley, and Austin Renaud, 18, of Springfield, face charges of statutory rape, and Mulveyhill and Kayla Narey, 17, of South Hadley, face charges of violation of civil rights, criminal harassment, and disturbance of a school assembly.

The Phoebe Prince case has been met with worldwide attention and has focussed American attention on the alleged bullying crisis dominant in American schools. Yesterday’s arraignment would have offered the first glimpse of several of those allegedly involved in the bullying of the South Hadley High School student. However, the three did not attend, invoking a court rule that allowed them to waive their appearances.

They will, however, be required to attend future court hearings. The next hearing is expected to take place in September. A condition of their release while awaiting trial is that they have no contact with Phoebe Prince’s family.

A total of six teenagers and three juvenile students face charges relating to the death of the 15-year-old.

South Hadley residents Ashley Longe, Flannery Mullins and Sharon Chanon Velazquez will appear before Franklin-Hampshire Juvenile Court on Thursday, April 8 at 2pm. The 16-year-old girls face charges of violation of civil rights with bodily injury resulting. Mullins and Velazquez also face one charge each of stalking.

Three other teenagers were charged as minors with civil rights violations.

Prince, who moved from north Clare to the US last autumn, is believed to have taken her life on January 15, 2010 following intensive bullying at South Hadley High School and via the social networking forum Facebook and text messages.

Phoebe’s family chose the affluent town of 17,000 people, 140 kilometres east of Boston, as they believed it would be an easy place for their daughter to settle into.

Upon arrival, Phoebe got quickly and briefly involved in a romance with a senior football player, drawing the resentment of some other girls, according to District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel. It’s alleged that over several months they made Phoebe’s school life miserable. They bumped into her, sent her threatening text messages, called her “Irish slut” to her face.

Scheibel said last week that school officials failed to stop it, even though the bullying was “common knowledge” for months. Phoebe’s mother twice complained to school staffers, and some bullying was witnessed by teachers. The school’s inaction, while not criminal, was “troubling”, Scheibel said.