Hi °C | Lo °C Eight teenagers have appeared in court in America, accused of recording an attack on a cheerleader and putting it on YouTube.
They are charged with kidnapping, assault and witness tampering.
One of the defendants is alleged to have slammed the sixteen-year-old Victoria Lindsay's head into a wall, knocking her unconscious.
Seven of the teenagers will be tried as adults. The youngest is 14. The eighth person is 18-years-old and considered an adult by state law.
Yesterday a judge set bail for each at $30,000 during their first appearance.
Mercades Nichols, 17, April Cooper, 14, Brittni Hardcastle, 17, Brittany Mayes, 17, and Cara Murphy, 16, all of Lakeland, and Kayla Hassell, 15, of Mulberry allegedly lured the victim to a house in Lakeland and then beat her. Zachary Ashley, 17, and Schumaker allegedly served as lookouts.
Victim's parents speak to the media
The attack on the 16-year-old girl, from Lakeland, was allegedly in retaliation for online comments she was said to have made.
"When I saw my daughter in the emergency room, I didn't even recognize my own daughter," her father Patrick Lindsay, said a recent news conference in front of their Florida home. "I just walked in and held her. I didn't want her to see me weep."
"I've never seen anybody's face disfigured like that."
(Top row, from left) April Cooper, Brittini Hardcastle, Kayla Hassell, Britney Mayes, (Borrom row, from left) Cara Murphy, Mercades Nichols, Zachary Ashley and Stephen Schumaker
The court in Florida has order the suspects to stay away from their high school and social networking websites.
