Florida Bullying Case: Charge Dropped Against 2 Teens

Lawyers for two teenage girls charged with stalking a Florida classmate who complained of being bullied before her suicide said Wednesday that charges against both have been dropped.

Attorney Jose Baez said the State Attorney's Office in Polk County had dropped the juvenile count of third-degree felony aggravated stalking against his client. She was 12 when she was arrested and has since turned 13.

Separately by email, attorney Ronald Toward said his 14-year-old client had the same count dropped against her.

Baez demanded an apology from the Polk County sheriff who arrested his client and then placed her name and mug shot before television cameras at a news conference last month.

Sheriff Grady Judd announced the arrests last month. He said the two girls primarily were responsible for bullying Rebecca Sedwick, a 12-year-old girl who jumped to her death at an abandoned concrete plant in September.

"I found zero evidence having to do with my client that would rise to the level of a criminal act," Baez said at a news conference outside his Orlando office.

Baez described his client as a "troubled young girl" who had been bullied herself, and he said it was "reckless" for Judd to have arrested his client.

At a news conference in Winter Haven on Wednesday just minutes after Baez's news conference had ended, Judd said he didn't regret anything he did. He said that he is happy with the outcome and that the girls will receive "the services they need."

"Our goal is that these kids never bully anyone again, never torment anyone again," Judd said.

Baez said his client hasn't ruled out a lawsuit against the sheriff.

Brian Haas, a spokesman for the State Attorney's Office in Polk County, said Florida law prevented him from commenting on juvenile cases.

At last month's news conference announcing the arrests, Judd said the bullying began about a year ago after the 14-year-old girl started dating Sedwick's ex-boyfriend. The older girl threatened to fight Sedwick while they were sixth-graders at Crystal Lake Middle School in Lakeland and told her "to drink bleach and die," the sheriff said. She also persuaded the younger girl to bully Sedwick, even though they had been best friends, the sheriff said.

Though both teens had been identified by authorities, The Associated Press doesn't generally name juveniles charged with crimes.

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