A 15-year-old teenager accused of brutally beating another teen outside Deerfield Beach Middle school in March faced a Broward county judge Saturday morning who denied his bond.
Treacy is being charged with attempted first degree murder as an adult, according to the Broward State Attorney's Office.
"This is unfortunately yet another one of those cases involving senseless violence that will forever change the course of the lives of these young people and everyone who cares about them," said Maria Schneider, assistant state attorney-in-charge of the Juvenile Unit in the Broward State Attorney's Office.
Wayne Treacy has been held in juvenile detention since the attack. Friday evening, Broward Sheriff's deputies transported the baby-faced Treacy to the main Broward County Jail. He will be held in the juvenile section of the adult jail.
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Friday afternoon, Rick Freedman, the attorney for Josie Ratley's family provided this comment from Hilda Gotay regarding the adult charge against Treacy: "She is putting her trust in God and is confident that the criminal justice system will make sure that Treacy gets what he deserves."
Treacy suffered a devastating loss last year when his brother committed suicide and Wayne found him hanging in a tree, according to his mother. When Josie Ratley sent him a derogatory text message on March 17th concerning the October 2009 suicide, he flew into a fit of rage, according to investigators.
Treacy's family believes the emotional distress from the suicide sent him over the edge. His lawyer, Russell Williams, said his client was suffering from emotional difficulties that weren't fully recognized by his family or by school officials. Williams told CBS4 News Treacy doesn't remember much about the attack on Ratley.
After Treacy received the text message from Ratley on March 17th, he allegedly sent a text message to a friend saying he was going to kill her, according to BSO. He then rode his bike to Deerfield Beach Middle School wearing steel-toed boots and asked 13-year-old Kayla Manson to point her out to him.
When she did, BSO investigators say he assaulted Ratley at her bus stop, kicked her in the head with those steel-toed boots and beat her unconscious before a teacher pulled him off.
Manson has been charged in connection with the beating. She entered a not guilty plea to a charge of principal to attempted murder on Friday morning and will be released from custody. Manson will be prosecuted as a juvenile, according to her attorney Daniel Callahan.
"These consequences might last the rest of (Manson's) life as well as for Josie and for the other participant," Callahan said. "So right now we want to make sure that our client's rights are protected and we can get her through these murky waters as well as we can."
Callahan said he hopes to get Manson back into the Broward County School system.
Ratley, 15, remains hospitalized at Broward General Medical Center. Ratley woke from her coma earlier this week. In a picture released Wednesday afternoon by her attorney Rick Freedman, Josie is seen in a wheelchair with her mother by her side. Doctors say Josie can't eat yet because she can't swallow so she's being fed through a feeding tube.
Ratley suffered a severe brain injury; while doctors say she has made slow, steady progress, she still can't speak or walk. She's scheduled to undergo surgery to repair part of her skull on Monday, April 19th. The surgery will be to repair parts of her skull that were damaged in the vicious attack.
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