Source: Grand Rapids Press, WOOD-TV, Grand Rapids Press
WAYLAND, Mich. -- Two high-school girls who beat up another girl, reportedly because she advocated for LGBT rights in the school, will face assault charges in juvenile court, Grand Rapids Press reports.

But they won't face enhanced penalties for what police say was a bias-motivated crime because Michigan's hate crimes law doesn't include sexual orientation.

As Wayland Union High School students cleaned out their lockers after the last day of school on Tuesday June 10, a fight between three freshmen girls erupted while another student video-taped the incident that left the victim with facial injuries.

The freshmen girls can be seen repeatedly punching the 14-year-old victim in the clip that was posted last week to the Internet less than two hours after the in-school attack.

Police believe the skirmish and subsequent posting to the YouTube, MySpace and TinyPic websites were meant to further humiliate the 14-year-old female victim, who had verbally clashed with classmates during her first year in the district. (The video was taken down from YouTube and other sites, but is posted on the Press website.)

"Something like this doesn't happen overnight, and it doesn't get videotaped and put up like this without planning and purpose," Wayland Police Chief Dan Miller said last week. "It's the last day of school, one of the last possible hours, and happens right in the middle of where two hallways meet.

The student's video camera was trained on the victim before the fight started. The clip shows the victim being grabbed from behind, slugged in the face several times and dragged by her hair across the floor. She tries to defend herself and fight back, but was unable to counter the attack.

The assault was preceded by several name-calling incidents, including one the day before the fight, Grand Rapids Press reported.

Students not involved in the fight told the paper that there had been several confrontations between the victim, her assailants and other students at the high school. Some students claimed the victim often was the aggressor in the verbal spats, according to the Press.

A police report obtained by WOOD-TV said that both suspects talked about the victim's sexual orientation in police interviews. Both said they were unhappy with the victim's displays of affection during class, and said they complained about it to a teacher.

Wayland police investigated the incident as a hate crime, WOOD-TV reported, saying the suspects told them in interviews after the attack that the victim, a new student this year at Wayland Union High School, was a gay-rights advocate at the school and was trying to in their words "impose her views on them."

But Michigan does not have a hate-crime law that includes sexual orientation, so police asked FBI to consider federal hate-crime enhancement to the charges.

"It appears that both of the individuals involved are minors and, therefore, the federal government does not get involved," John King, resident agent in charge at the FBI's Grand Rapids field office, told Grand Rapids Press "We only deal with adults."

The fight was clearly premeditated, police told local media last week.

Police told WOOD-TV last week that surveillance video shows the suspects pulling back their hair and getting ready. It is also clear, they say, other people knew about the attack because of the number of people who were congregated around watching the fight.

"It was a pretty vicious attack on the one gal. She didn't know it was coming," Chief Miller said last week. "She obviously went down to the floor very quick and tried to fend off her attackers."

Charges were authorized this week against the two attackers, Miller said, but because Michigan does not include sexual orientation in its hate crimes law, they will not face enhanced penalties.

Each girl will face one count of aggravated assault, which carries a maximum penalty of one year in a juvenile detention center and a $1,000 fine, Grand Rapids Press reports.

The Michigan anti-discrimination group Triangle Foundation told WOOD-TV that this is another sign Michigan needs an anti-bullying law that covers sexual orientation. "Thirty-seven other states have anti-bullying legislation in place," said Colette Beighley from the Triangle Foundation. "Michigan does not."

The Triangle Foundation said reporting violence against gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgenders is up 133 percent in the state. The group did not single out school incidents, but Beighley said it is an issue, WOOD-TV reports.

The cases will be handled in Allegan County Juvenile Court, where a hearing date will be set, Miller said, according to the Press.

The victim's father told WOOD-TV last week that his daughter is doing "quite well" considering the circumstances. She went to the family doctor last Wednesday who told her she would have a black eye for a few more days but has no broken bones and no permanent damage.

"I thought it was typical teenage stuff until I saw the video and I heard everything that happened," the victim's father said. "I got a phone call about an hour later [after the incident] and I was told that she was being looked over by the EMTs and making sure she didn't have a concussion."

His daughter told him two girls jumped her from behind. One of the girls beat her as the other taped it and later put it on the Internet. The girl's father says the video convinces him the incident was preplanned, WOOD-TV reported.

"It's real disappointing that no one steps in, no one does anything," Miller said. "And the way these girls were talking, anyone could have told administrators before it went on."

The suspects also approached others to see if they wanted to take part in the fight, Grand Rapids Press reported. The paper talked to a student who said her sister had been invited to participate 

Full article: Freshmen girls' fight may bring charges | WOOD-TV
Wayland students charged for videotaped beating | Grand Rapids Press
Police: Teens' attack on Wayland classmate was planned out | Grand Rapids Press
Hate crime charges unlikely against freshman girls accused in Wayland Union attack | Grand Rapids Press
Wayland girls' fight highlights bigger issue | WOOD-TV
hattip: GLAAD