The 15-year-old boy accused of beating and stomping Deerfield Beach teen Josie Lou Ratley made a court appearance Tuesday morning.
Wayne Treacy attended a hearing in Broward Juvenile court this morning, where a protective order limiting the amount of information released to the public in the case was lifted by Judge Elijah Williams.
The lifting of the gag order will allow anyone associated woth the case to speak.
The attorney for Treacy said the teen is in a bad emotional state, distraught, and hasn't grasped what happened.
"He is for lack of a better word a mess right now, he hasn't really understood the entire concept of what is going on," said attorney Russell Williams, who said he's seeking out mental health professionals for the teen.
Williams said Treacy has expressed concern for Ratley.
"He is absolutely devastated and extremely concerned right now for Josie," Williams said. "He wishes her well and everytime I walk in, and see him, the first thing I saw him today, he said 'How's she doing?'"
Treacy has been in a juvenile detention center since the March 17 attack on Ratley, 15, outside her Deerfield Beach Middle School.
Police said Ratley was punched, knocked to the ground and had her head repeatedly slammed on the concrete by Treacy, who stomped on the girl with his steel-toed boots.
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Treacy became enraged, police said, when Ratley sent him a text message mentioning his brother who had committed suicide last October.
Ratley has been in a medically induced coma at Broward General Medical Center since the attack, though her family's lawyer said Sunday that she is starting to move and that doctors are starting to reduce her coma inducing medicine.
Ratley family attorney Rick Freedman said outside Tuesday's hearing that doctors are hoping to have Ratley completely off the coma inducing drugs in the next 24 to 48 hours.
"Fever, infection and pneumonia are gone," Freedman said Tuesday, adding that Ratley's mother, who has been extremely distraught is also doing better.
"Mom is definitely feeling better, she's very upbeat," he said.
Freedman said that although Treacy is beginning to show signs of remorse, the Ratley family is still quite upset.
"They're still very angry, their child is sitting in a hospital bed in a coma for the last 20 days," Freedman said.
Prosecutors have yet to determine whether they'll charge Treacy as an adult or a minor, though it appears that either way, he'll be charged with premeditated attempted murder.
Treacy had been placed on suicide watch inside the detention center, his attorney said shortly after his arrest. Williams said he may be off suicide watch now.
Treacy's 13-year-old alleged accomplice, Kayla Manson, who police said helped Treacy find Ratley, is also being held in a juvenile detention center and also appeared before a judge Tuesday.
