Text message leads to steel-toed beating
Reportedly, 15-year-old Wayne Treacy didn’t know Josie Lou Ratley, also 15 years old but at a different school in Florida. Wayne’s ex-girlfriend, Kayla Manson, was 13 and a friend of Josie’s. Oftentimes, Josie would be the cell phone messenger for Kayla since she didn’t have her own phone.
Wayne lived with his mother and thirty year old brother whom he looked up to. In October, 2009, Wayne found his brother hanging from a tree at a nearby church. Five months later, in March, 2010, Wayne was trying to reach Kayla through Josie’s phone. Josie didn’t approve of their relationship and after close to an hour of exchanging text messages, she made a comment to Wayne about his brother.
Josie Ratley
Wayne became enraged and texted a few friends that he was going to kill Josie. He went home, put on steal-toed shoes and rode his bike three miles to Deerfield Beach Middle School. He didn’t know which girl was Josie until Kayla pointed her out. He then attacked Josie, kicking her in the head repeatedly before being pulled off by a teacher. Josie was taken to the hospital with severe injuries.
Wayne was arrested and charged with premeditated attempted murder. He will be tried as an adult and remains incarcerated until further proceedings. In January, 2011, the prosecution agreed to a cap of 50 years in prison if and when Wayne is convicted. Otherwise he could have been facing a life sentence. Trial is scheduled to begin in May, 2012. Kayla was also arrested and charged as an accessory to the assault. She remains in juvenile custody.
Wayne Treacy
In December, 2010, Wayne and his lawyer filed a lawsuit against the local school board claiming he was only receiving 5 hours a week of instruction while in jail. They seek a minimum of 25 hours weekly.
For more about education behind bars, see: http://www.askthejudge.info/juvenile-inmates-earn-traditional-high-school-diplomas/3229/
This post was written by Tom Jacobs. Judge Tom is the founder and moderator of AsktheJudge.info. He is a retired juvenile judge and spent 23 years on the bench. He has written several books for lawyers and judges as well as teens and parents including the recently published 'Teen Cyberbullying Investigated' (Free Spirit Publishing). When he's not answering teens' questions, Judge Tom can be found hiking, traveling and reading.
I do not condone what this child did in the assult, however we must look at what the girl stated in the text messages discussing this kids brother whom hung himself. She cannot be without fault
if that teacher wouldn’t of pulled him off he probably would of killed her. he knew what he was doing. he even said “i’m gonna kill her”. He deserves anything he gets. As for what she said about his brother that was uncalled for but just because she said that doesn’t mean he has to try to kill her. He should have never put his hands on her.
Thanks, Tori, for your thoughts.