2 guilty pleas, no jail time in Massachusetts bullying case

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Northampton, Massachusetts (CNN) -- Two classmates of a high school freshman who hanged herself in the stairwell of her family's apartment pleaded guilty to charges of criminal harassment, but other more serious charges were dismissed and neither will serve time, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Sean Mulveyhill and Kayla Narey entered their pleas in Hampshire Superior Court in connection with what was described as the systematic bullying of Phoebe Prince, 15, who took her life on January 14, 2010, after weeks of ridicule and teasing, First District Attorney Steven E. Gagne said in a statement. That day she had endured a barrage of harassment that began at the school library that continued as she walked home from school in tears, Gagne said.

What happened to Phoebe Prince?

Mulveyhill and Narey, both 18, each received one year's probation, with special stipulations that include 100 hours of community service to assist underprivileged or at-risk youth, an order that they have no contact with the victim's family unless they get the family's consent, and barring them from financially profiting from the case while on probation.

Narey had also faced charges civil rights violation resulting in bodily injury and disturbing a school assembly; Mulveyhill, who had dated Prince, had faced similar charges, plus statutory rape. All of those charges were dismissed.

Three other individuals charged in connection with the case go on trial Thursday, including 19-year-old Austin Renaud, who like Mulveyhill and Narey was charged as an adult.

On the day she died, Prince was loudly berated in the South Hadley High School library. She was taunted again as school let out, and as she walked home crying, one of the students called Prince names and tossed an empty can at her as they passed in a car, according to the 38-page court filing painting a vivid picture of constant hazing. By 4:55 p.m. that day, Prince had hanged herself in the stairwell of her family's apartment in South Hadley.

Is your child being bullied?

Court documents show that the day before she died, she told a friend, "School has been close to intolerable lately."

Prosecutors said Prince, who had moved to Massachusetts from Ireland earlier in the school year, had gone out with boys who also dated two of her alleged tormentors, who in retaliation called her cruel names, including "whore" and "Irish slut." According to prosecutors, the tormenting began when Mulveyhill returned to his former girlfriend, Narey.

A witness is quoted in the document as telling investigators, "She definitely didn't want to fight with the girls in the school. She just wanted to keep to herself and keep things the way they were. She wanted people to stop picking on her, to stop being bullied. She wanted people to leave her alone. She wanted people to stop spreading rumors and stop the girls from talking about her."

Phoebe Prince court filings

Darby O'Brien, a close friend of Prince's family, said it isn't right that the students are bearing "all of the weight and all of the blame" for Prince's death, when adults who should have been held to account have not.

"They have been tried in the media all around the world," O'Brien said. "They were kids in high school; kids do things out of wack. But no one has held the professionals -- from the superintendent to principal on down -- (responsible) for what happened as well."

South Hadley Public Schools Superintendent Gus Sayer has defended school administrators' handling of the matter, saying Prince had not told anyone about her situation. He said school officials began to take action when teachers saw the bullying themselves and heard about it from other students.

Prosecutors said they were happy with plea deal.

"By admitting that they engaged in criminal harassment toward Phoebe Prince, these two defendants have publicly accepted responsibility for their actions, and have been held accountable," Gagne said. "Today's proceedings signify that bullying and harassment will not be tolerated in our schools; and when it rises to the level of criminal conduct, as it did in these two cases, those responsible will be prosecuted."

CNN's Brian Vitagliano and Chris Boyette contributed to this report.

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