matt lauer from nbc s today show interviews christina garcia, the mother of mercedes nichols about the beating. what about the actual beating on tape? do you think this has been overblown? i didn t say that. mercedes, my daughter warned this girl before she came into the house. the two girls that you have been running your mouth about over myspace and threatening are in the house. please do not go in the house. relatives of the other suspects also speak out. she is a very good person, and she s my baby girl, period. if y all saw the video, it was a one-on-one fight. there was no gang beating. it s our sheriff trying to show boat this. that s all it is. sheriff grady judd doesn t buy it. he says that videotape speaks for itself. i was outraged. i mean when you look at the
instead they face serious criminal charges. they re all charged with felony battery, and they re all charged with false imprisonment, eight are charged and prosecutors eventually drop the charges for three of them kara murphy, steven schumaker, and ashley zachary because of insufficient evidence. others aren t so lucky. brittany hartcastle described by witnesses as the main attacker in the video pleads guilty to false imprisonment and battery. she is sentenced to 15 days in jail and three years of probation. we may have our differences, but no one deceives that kind of treatment. prosecutors offer to drop false imprisonment charges against april cooper and brittany mays if they agree to plead guilty on misdemeanor battery charges. all accept and are sentenced to a year of probation. prosecutors say mercedes nichols partially arranged for the fight to take place and pleads guilty to battery and tampering with a
to the back seat of a car, and now travis has a kitchen knife. i m talking about emotional pain. think about it. you think physical pain means anything compared to what you re going to be thinking? the second this knife digs one inch further into your [ bleep ] neck? travis pal, jonathan cockerill, is now holding the knife dangerously close to danielle s throat. she s been asked what she would like to say to her family. what about your family? how much i love them. how much you love your family. how much i love my mom and i m going to miss her. and i m sure she s going to miss me too. it s now just past midnight. after being driven down a dark road, danielle is taken out of the car and carried like a sack into the snow-covered woods. travis, who just an hour earlier danielle considered a new friend, continues to narrate as they approach what looks like a predug grave.
on youtube. all eight are accused of kidnapping and battery in the beating attack on a 16-year-old. matt lauer from nbc s today show interviews christina garcia, the mother of mercedes nichols about the beating. what about the actual beating on tape? do you think this has been overblown? i wouldn t say that. mercedes, my daughter warned this girl before she came into the house. the two girls that you have been running your mouth about over myspace and threatening are in the house. please do not go in the house. relatives of the other suspects also speak out. she is a very good person, and she s my baby girl, period. if y all saw the video, it was a one-on-one fight. there was no gang beating. it s our sheriff trying to show this. that s all it is. sheriff grady judd doesn t buy it. he says that videotape speaks for itself. i was outraged. i mean, when you looked at the violence, when you looked at the
get this. [ bleep ]. these are kids who are addicted to violence. get him! get him! and who are fighting for the sake of the high that it brings watching that fight. what gets the d.a. s attention that summer can a horrifying story about tanner hanson and the night he encounters the 311 boys. this is where it all started. july 18th, 2003. tanner hanson has just wrapped up his junior year in high school and is enjoying all the graduation parties with his friends. on a warm saturday night, tanner drives to this park where he meets his best friend craig. some girls show up. and one of them suggests going to a party. another friend winces at the idea. but the group decides to go anyway. that s a decision tanner now wishes he had never made. tanner s friend craig. a lot of kids were coming in. some of my friends that i knew, and i was just like, oh, we don t have to worry about that. there are no problems.