The judge, who was shown the video in her chambers before the hearing, appeared unsympathetic as
defense lawyers tried unsuccessfully to show that the crime was simply a “fight” over a “beef” that the girls had.
Montes’ lawyer, Hilliard Moldof, argued that the video did not tell the whole story, saying it was “a snapshot of circumstances,” and that the victim’s statement was not being truthful.
But Porter interjected, expressing her dismay at downplaying such a heinous crime.
“What justification is there to drag that victim by her hair on the floor and punch her in the face?” the judge asked.
She later said she had no doubt that the two girls posed a danger to the community, but by law, she said, she had to release them on bond because of the technology that allows them to monitor the girls with ankle bracelets and GPS devices.
Family members of the two girls sat silently in the courtroom for the most part. The
defendants’ mothers testified that they were “good girls’ who had never been in trouble other than minor arrests for marijuana possession and petty theft
The victim, a 16-year-old South Broward High sophomore, said
she was invited on Nov. 1 to a home in the 1600 block of McKinley Street in Hollywood. Montes, the victim’s
best friend since kindergarten, invited her earlier that day, telling her that she missed hanging with her because the two had been estranged over a dispute involving a boy. According to the police report, the girl was watching TV and listening to music when
Montes and Avery suddenly grabbed her, pinned her down and began kicking her in the head. They taunted her, called her names and told her that they would continue to beat her until she agreed to have sex with a 19-year-old man who lived in the house.
The girl refused, and Montes, Avery and three others continued to beat her, telling her that they wouldn’t let up until she complied, the report said. They then dragged her by her hair into a bedroom, where they stripped her of her clothes and the 19-year-old, identified as Jayvon Woolfork, raped her, it said.
Afterwards,
they told her she could leave, as long as she left her shoes. Battered and bloody, she wandered into the street where she flagged down someone who took her to a relative’s home nearby.
She lost consciousness and was transported to Hollywood Memorial Hospital in Hollywood, where she remained for several days. Her head was swollen and she could not see. Doctors told police that she had broken two bones in her face.
Three others, Dwayne Henry, 17, of Hollywood; Lanel Singleton, 18, of North Miami; and Woolfork, 19, all face charges of capital felony sexual assault and kidnapping. They remain jailed pending their next court hearings.
Moldof argued that the video was “hearsay” and did not show the victim being raped, nor did it show her unclothed.
Avery, a high school dropout who last lived with her family in Coconut Creek, had a long history of petty theft, but no crimes more serious.
Patricia Montes had been arrested for possession of marijuana just three weeks before the attack.
Montes’ mother, Patricia Dalecky, said she and her four children have lived in Hollywood for the past 20 years.
She said Patricia had never been in trouble.
Dalecky said that the night of the attack Patricia led her to believe that she was at her father’s house.
“I did not know where she was,” Dalecky admitted.
When asked by Schneider about how a girl who had not been in much trouble could have committed such a brutal crime,
Dalecky said, “I don’t know where it came from, but this is not my little girl.”
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Originally Posted by Ron_NYC
Don't like what I have to say? I respect that. Go fuck yourself.
