Massachusetts Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog

Prosecutors are pushing a judge to set a trial date in the case of three South Hadley girls accused in a bullying case of pushing a fellow student to commit suicide, the Boston Herald reported.

Speedy trial rights are enjoyed by defendants who have been accused of a crime -- not by prosecutors. Defendants have the right to be brought to trial in an expedited manner so that criminal allegations are not held over their head for an indefinite length of time. In many cases, it is to the benefit of a defendant to waive those rights and allow their Massachusetts criminal defense lawyer plenty of time to build a proper defense. In this case, prosecutors have identified up to 50 witnesses they plan to call. The defense attorney for each girl has an obligation to prepare a solid defense for his client.

Ashley Longe, Flannery Mullins and Sharon Chanon Velazquez were all 16 when charged in March. Prosecutors are pushing for a December trial. Attorneys for the girls argued it leaves them without enough time to review a mountain of evidence, including 250 pages of grand jury testimony. Prosecutors said they wanted the trial over before January 2011, when their boss, Northwestern District Attorney Elizabeth D. Scheibel's term expires. Scheibel has aggressively pursued the case -- charging 6 teens in connection with the Jan. 14 death of the 15-year-old girl, who hanged herself after allegedly receiving verbal and online abuse from classmates.

The judge said the trial will not start in December.

Prosecutors also want to try Mullins and Velazquez together. Many times, a defense attorney will file a motion to separate the trials of multiple defendants. Both face charges of violation of civil rights and stalking as a youthful offender. Longe also faces a charge of violation of civil rights as a youthful offender.