Rebecca Sedwick Update: Fla. girls accused of bullying 12-year-old who committed suicide plead not guilty
(CBS) BARTOW, Fla. - Two Florida girls accused of bullyinga 12-year-old who committed suicide pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges of felony aggravated stalking, reports CBS affiliate WTSP.
An arraignment hearing in the case was rescheduled, for the second time, to Nov. 21.
On Sept. 9, authorities say Rebecca Sedwick climbed a tower at an abandoned concrete plant and hurled herself to her death.
Authorities have said Sedwick was "terrorized" by as many as 15 girls who ganged up on her and picked on her for months through online message boards and texts.
Two girls, ages 12 and 14, were arrested Oct. 21 in connection with the case and have been charged with felony aggravated stalking. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said investigators made the arrests after the 14-year-old made an incriminating comment on social media.
The girls allegedly encouraged others to fight Sedwick, and sent her electronic messages encouraging her to kill herself. CBS News' Crimesider is not naming either of the two suspects due to their young age.
Judd told Crimesider last week that he charged the 12-year-old and 14-year-old with stalking because what they did to Sedwick went beyond bullying into harassment and intimidation.
Jose Baez, who famously won an acquittal for Casey Anthony, announced last Wednesday that he is representing the 12-year-old chargedwith stalking Sedwick.
Sedwick's mother, Tricia Norman, is being represented by the law firm of Florida's former and perhaps future governor, Charlie Crist. David Henry, the lead attorney on the case, told Crimesider last week that Crist's law firm and Sedwick's mother are considering lawsuits aimed at the two girls who have been charged, their parents, and "as many as 15 other kids" for their roles in bullying Sedick. Henry says they are also looking at whether the school and the abandoned plant where Sedwick took her own life may also be liable in some way.
The mother of the 14-year-old charged in the case, Vivian Vosburg, was arrested Oct. 18 on child abuse chargesafter the sheriff's office became of aware on an online video apparently depicting Vosburg punching two young boys.