Wayne Treacy's Texts Were Key to His Conviction, Juror Says

"I think everyone was sad for the victim, everyone was sad for the defendant," he told NBC 6

Wayne Treacy’s text messages before and after his brutal attack on Josie Ratley were a key reason why a jury convicted him of attempted murder, a juror said Tuesday.

“They were very clear as to what the defendant was gonna do, when he was gonna do it, how he was gonna do it, and then he went and did it and then 5 or 10 minutes later, he decided that he was going to text his friends about the consequences of what he had just done,” the juror, who wants to remain anonymous, told NBC 6.

Attorneys made an insanity claim for Treacy, arguing that he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and was not in control of what he was doing at the time of the March 17, 2010 attack.

But the jury didn’t buy it, finding the 17-year-old guilty of attempted murder on Monday.

After Ratley, then 15, sent Treacy text messages about his older brother who had recently committed suicide, he punched, kicked and stomped her head with steel-toed construction boots at a bus stop outside Deerfield Beach Middle School, prosecutors said.

The attack left Ratley with severe brain damage. But the juror said that everyone on the panel felt great sympathy for Treacy, agreeing that he was suffering from PTSD brought on by the suicide of his brother Michael.

"I think everyone was sad for the victim, everyone was sad for the defendant,” the juror said.

He added, “We’re hopeful that the judge will be wise enough to make sure this young man gets the treatment that he needs."

But Treacy’s lawyer, Russell Williams, said Monday that the teenager will not get the treatment he needs in prison.

The juror said that in hindsight, “I think it was a mistake on the part of the jury that we didn't get more clarity on what would happen to Wayne Treacy after the verdict."

Treacy is scheduled to be sentenced next month. He faces up to 50 years behind bars.

The jury never heard Treacy tell a detective, just hours after the incident, that he couldn't believe he did it. The prosecutor chose not to enter the interrogation video into evidence.

On the video, the detective asks, “Are you sorry for what you did?"

"Of course, why do you think I’ve been crying?” Treacy replies.

The juror, after watching the video, said it might have helped Treacy's defense.

"If we would've seen that whole tape, then I think the decision may have been different. Maybe we would have gravitated toward second-degree, or maybe we would've found him insane,” he said.

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