Teen Takes Plea Deal In Video Beating Case:

2 Remaining Teens in Beating Case Accept Plea Deals:

Sorry that I’m late with this one. The stories broke while I was on vacation.

Anyway the last of the three suspects in the recorded beating of Victoria Lindsay have all agreed to plea deal ensuring that none of the suspects will face trial.

Brittini Hardcastle pleaded guilty to false imprisonment and battery. Under the plea agreement, prosecutors agreed to drop a felony count of tampering with a witness. Hardcastle is still facing up to five months of jail time and will be sentenced on March 30th.

Kayla Hassall pleaded no contest to misdemeanor battery. Under the terms of her plea prosecutors agreed to drop felony kidnapping charges. April Cooper pleaded guilty to two counts of misdemeanor battery.

All 3 also have the provisions that they must write letters of apology to Victoria and can not talk to the media for profit.

As some of my commenters have mentioned what’s the deal with the letters of apology? For one I doubt they’ll be sincere and secondly why not just make them write ‘I will not beat Victoria’ 500 times on a blackboard. It will probably have the same effect.

37 responses to “Last of suspects plea in Victoria Lindsay beating”

  1. The blackboard thing actually might work better. Their hands will be so cramped they won’t be able to make a fist to beat anyone ever again.

  2. The letters of apology to Victoria are dubious. I have said al along those girls should be made to apologize to Tori and her family face to face and not in a letter. Tori and her family deserve that. The Lindsay’s could have sued all the families invloved in the vicious attack on Ms. Lindsay but have chosen not to. And Tori and her parents have asked for leniency for the arrested teens. And that has saved the teens who have eneded with with slaps on the wrists as penatiles after facing tough felony charges from the lame SAO who over charged the teens to begin with.

  3. Was that a slap or a touch couldn’t really tell .

  4. Nancy, you just said something Nancy Grace would probably have said.

    It’s officially over now. I want to see what the girls have to say.

  5. Greg, I have no idea who or what you’re talking about, but I was making a joke.

  6. Trench, With great power comes great responsibility so I don’t know if it’s right for blog operators to take vacations.

    I also think that when those letters of apology are delivered to Victoria, she should have the right to judge them for penmanship (they have to be hand-written), spelling, punctuation, style and literary quality and degree of sincerity. If she gives them a flunkjng grade they must do the letters over and keep doing them over until they meet acceptable standards as determined by Victoria. And nobody should be allowed to leave until they get it right.

  7. Gomp,

    Awesome idea!, but, if combined with Nancy’s suggestion of putting it up on a blackboard, and with my idea of writting it over and over again, say 100 times, per day…everyday for 1 year. Then…and and only then would it become a slap on the wrist…
    My 2 cents…

  8. Sorry Trench….Funny…I read what you wrote after I posted…..great minds think alike I guess…

  9. Mark, It looks like all the great minds are out here and not in the office of the state prosecutor where they should be. Now that we have devised suitable punishments for the perpetrators, how about some ideas for making the defense lawyers pay for their vicious tactics? Of course, those ideas we will keep to ourselves, you never know who’s listening.

  10. Greg, you want to see what the arrested girls have to say. I do to. But that will be a long wait because they aren’t talking. The truth is they should be made to apologize publicly to Tori and to their community for causing such an embarrasing incident and having the call to film it and enjoy it. But these girls aren’t talking they are hiding behind their lawyers and the judge.

  11. Most stories this guy writes is a bunch of bullshit. this story was a big deal we all saw on TV

  12. The judge needs a new job. And for them teens they need a beating of there own. But like they say what gose around comes around those 8 teen would of been doing time for a long time here in Texas. And I hope. For the two boy I hope someone dose the same to you and your family

  13. hmmm,

    Two different Mark’s blogging.

  14. I was wondering if that was you Mark. I didn’t think so.

  15. Is this the same Mark who posted on Topix?

  16. No, its not gomp…I generally do not swear on-line as I am never sure who reads them..ie Kids!!.
    I just read that Garcia just got arrested!!, amazing family, that they just continue to impress, don’t they?

  17. oh..wait a sec Gomp, I mis-read your question:
    Yes, its me!! Mark from Raleigh, NC. The other “Mark”..no, this is the first time I have seen him.

  18. Hi Mark-

    So where did everybody go? The numbers posting on Topix and mcs have really dwindled. I think people just got tired of waiting for something to happen and lost interest, just as the defense lawyers were counting on. But people haven’t forgotten. There is a new thread on Topix devoted to this incident, and lots of people are responding with short comments (mostly unflattering) and that tells me interest could pick up again. Especially when word gets out about the plea deals that they basically snuck through under the radar. Maybe now Nancy Grace or O’reilly will shine a spotlight on the whole sordid mess. (I hope)

    I was pretty sure that at least a few of those involved in the beating case would make news again one day, given the odds, but I’m shocked it happened so soon. I guess it isn’t easy keeping a clean nose in Polk County.

  19. Funny, The article reported that she beat her daughter (Mercedes)…ahhhhh poetic justice at its best.

  20. Gomp and Scott

    It is not a lack of interest in this case on my part you know that. Just how many blogs are you two on? How am I supposed to get my two cents in lol.

    Trench very funny. In a very not funny case. I still can’t get over the forced apology letters. I said it before and I will say it again. They are not in preschool.

  21. Hi Amy-

    Yes there have been quite a number of threads to comment on in this case. This week we get the final phase of the legal part of the case, and I am not optimistic that the lethargic judge will get up the energy for more than the ceremonial wrist slap. It’s true that a few wrists may get tired from the unaccustomed exercise of letter writing. But letters of “apology” are just a formality and only serve to point out how futile the whole courtroom ritual is.

    Still, this case does not diminish in interest or significance just because the court has pronounced its sentence. Once again violent offenders escape without meaningful punishment. That is nothing new. Those sick people who are involved in the making and watching of “fight” videos will take no notice and will continue on their evil course.

    It remains to be seen whether the failure of the court to send a positive message here will lead to any reaction on the part of the public. The one thing that has changed with the airing of this video is that millions of people were alerted to the existence of this fight phenomenon, especially where it involves young girls. That in itself is a good thing. Thanks to the Internet and a few brave souls like Bill O’reilly and MIchelle Malkin, we learned about the depths of depravity to which society has sunk in an unforgettably graphic way. True, many have forgotten about the victimization of Victoria Lindsay (and judging from the comments on the vlogs many still don’t know about the sentencing travesty). But all of us have learned how our advanced technology can be put to use in promoting depravity. We have seen videotaped violence of a kind we thought existed only in Third World countries or in the sick minds of perverts like Bill Maher (But hey, he’s just a comedian, right?). Now it is in our homes and we know it is no farther away than our fingertips.

    As for the miscreants who got away with no real punishment (and no counseling or rehabilitation of any kind) will they do something newsworthy again soon? Some of the threads on this blog go back more than two years and still get comments today. Two years from now will the Lakeland case still generate enough interest to provoke people to post their views here? I think it will.

  22. First of all I thought the US had a much harsher justices system than we have here in canada… 5 months? what is wrong with people these days.. you should not get cut deals when you commit ruthless, horrible, inhuman crimes like these girls have commited. am i the only one who has noticed these girls have not shown one bit of remorce or sympathy towards the young girl they brutaly beat? Personaly i think they should be found 1 at a time taken to a designated location and had the exact same thing done to each of them as they did to that little girl.. as a mother to a 1 year old girl i am seriously thinking of home schooling my little girl now! what has society come to? this is not a slap on the wriste this a tickle with a feather! shame on the american justice system!!!!

  23. This just in: Mayes gets one year probation, fifty hours community service, must make restitution to victim of $1,752.
    I wonder how they came up with that figure? Also, must write that letter of apology. Thank you, judge Spoto, you have shown us what you are made of. I nominate Spoto for the Dumbass of the Year Award.

  24. Gomp-

    I second that nomination, I was thinking decade, but dumbass of the year will work for me. I guess that pretty much clears the way for anyone to gang up and beat the crap out of someone is now legal and fine in this country. Whats next…murder??

  25. This is from Yahoo news:

    A Canadian judge ruled Thursday that a man accused of beheading and cannibalizing a fellow Greyhound bus passenger is not criminally responsible due to mental illness

    I guess that answers your question, Mark. Have we hit rock bottom yet or can things get any worse?

  26. Hi guyys
    As expected no jail yime for Mayes .A gutless performancce by the SAO to match a gutless performance by the six guilty thugs that were in the room . I hope this follows them for the rest of thier lives .I shoudn,t of looked in to see what happened , now its going to take a lot more pina colodas to wash away the pissed off mood that spinless judge and inept SAO has put me in .
    I can.t wait to see what BM will get a freakin parade is my guees .
    Karma don.t forget in Canada no one,s name would have been published they would have all been proteced by the The Young Offenders Act which for our American friends allows young offenders to do what ever the hell they like with little fear of meaningful punishment Got to go There is still more Tequila to go through before I can think about the disapointment of how this case ended .

  27. Phil, Scott and Gomp,

    And the I’s have it. Judge Spoto has been officially crowned dumbass of the year. A title he so richly deserves. Anyone from Canada or any state in America can take great pride in our justice now. I have seen no better for so many victims. It is all about criminals rights. Thought things would change on this one.

    I would not expect much more for Hardcastle. Why would this judge get a back bone or common sense now? The tape showed the judgement passed on Victoria. The judge continued with what that he thought the punishment should be for her jury. Seems like Mulberry teens learn from adults well.

    Did not post last night to angry. Also Phil not nice to speak of Pina Colodas to ease you anger and not offer one to your southern neighbors who also needed cooling down. This indeed makes all of us sick. Never when I saw this video did I think this would be the sentences handed down. And to think people were worried these poor little girls were going to be thrown in jail for 20 years.

    Karma –

    I see your justice system may well be as adequate as ours. Just as I am sorry for my teenage daughter so am I for your 1 year old. Mine does do classes from home. Schools are rough. Authority figures condone this behavior. So unfortunately the ones of us who do not want our kids exposed may very well be better of keeping them at home. Fair to them No. Necessary at this point very much looking like it.

  28. Mark –

    Sorry did not mean to ignore your vote. I would like that answer to. Wha is next? Although I think I really don’t want to know at this point.

  29. I have to agree with you, Gomp, Scott, &amp Amy. I think that they should have gotten a better judge than Spoto. Criminals have always gotten away with so many things based on what they did. Some even get away with rape or murder, because of idiotic Judges.

  30. Garland –

    Hard to keep up with all of these posts. I replied to you on another just now. This judge at the beginning showed promise of having some sense. He quickly lost that status when giving the girls everything they asked for. So yes perhaps a better judge could have passed a far better judgement.

    Almost the anniversary date of this crime taking place. Also, almost a year since I was sickened when it was realized on t.v. Will never forget how angry I was or how badly I felt for Victoria. Never imagined this would be the outcome. Never.

    Yet this is what happened and we are all sitting around wondering how it could have? I don’t know. I do not know how this judge could have come to these punishments (if that is what you want to call them). I don’t know how the lawyers for these girls were able to drag Victoria through the mud to get their clients off. Just don’t understand it at all Garland.

  31. The Guy who stabbed (and almost killed) Monica Seles only got a few months in jail and he commited the crime in front of lots of witnesses in Germany so their justice system is just as bad or worse than ours. These people should have got tougher sentances. Wife beater sometime get let go with no jail time at all and end up killing their wife or ex-wife because the system does almost nothing to protect them in many cases.

  32. nmman, you are right that the handling of the Gunther Parche case was a disgrace. Parche received a suspended sentence for stabbing Monica Seles, who was ranked no. 1 in the world at the time. She never recovered her former greatness. So Parche succeeded in knocking Seles from the top spot, which was taken over by Steffi Graf (Parche was a fan of Graf’s). It would have been a nice gesture if Graf had shared some of her winnings with Seles, but such generosity is all too rare. As a German, I find it outrageous that the German justice system has become so ineffectual. The fact that Parche admitted he did it to “teach that Serb a lesson” adds to the atrocious nature of the crime.
    Also it is true that leniency toward criminals only leads to more criminal acts. The Lakeland case was badly mishandled by SAO and Judge Spoto and justice was not done.
    But there is some good news. Victoria Lindsay, who was the victim in the video, has moved on and is doing all right. Reports are that she is resuming her education and is ready to realize her dreams.
    As for the few who continue to attack her in some of these blogs, I’d say it’s way past time for them to move on, too.

  33. These girls are the epitomy of pussy ass bitches if I ever saw any. Too bad they didn’t go to PRISON for what they did. Wonder how “bad ass” they’d be then? hahahaha I would have LOVED to be a fly on the wall in the prison after the inmates who are truly bad girls got done with their sorry asses…if they had any ass left, that is. Those losers chicks think they’re SO tough jumping ONE girl &amp posting it online, but if they were in a place where there’s chicks that just do NOT care, they would not survive 2 minutes. Now THAT would be online worthy.

  34. that last comment posted prompted me to come here and read this again, and there I am commenting back in 09 lol.

  35. Now she has to pay $ 2,000 compensation to the family. is worth the effort to beat it for $ 4

  36. Trouble with the law. Equal to beat her? Who knows if you will not have to pay the treatment in a hospital?

  37. No rope for a girl life? That the hits are she will remember all her life.

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