Not guilty pleas expected for 3 girls in Mass. school bullying case that ended in suicide

3 girls face arraignment in Mass. bullying case

HADLEY, Mass. — Lawyers for three teenage girls charged in the bullying of a 15-year-old girl who committed suicide are expected to enter not guilty pleas on their behalf.

Sixteen-year-olds Ashley Longe, Sharon Chanon Velazquez and Flannery Mullins are charged with civil rights and stalking counts in the case of freshman classmate Phoebe Prince.

Prince was a South Hadley High School student who hanged herself in January after what prosecutors called an “unrelenting” three-month bullying campaign by six teenagers. Prosecutors say Prince was targeted after she briefly dated a popular boy.

Longe, Velazquez and Mullins are being arraigned as youthful offenders Thursday in Franklin-Hampshire Juvenile Court in Hadley.

All three have invoked a court rule that allows them to skip their arraignments.