McBride continued: "A crime was committed in our community, and if there's a videotape of it, I want some information. That video was incredibly revealing. It told more truth about what happened than any other form of reporting could have told." On Friday, a judge set bail for each of the defendants at $30,000 while prosecutors said that seven of the girls would be tried as adults for their role in the vicious attack.
"It's absolutely an animalistic attack," Sheriff Grady Judd said earlier this week. "They lured her into the home for the express purpose of filming the attack and posting it on the Internet." The girls now face charges of kidnapping, battery and witness tampering. The arrest report describes how one of the girls struck the victim's head several times before slamming it into a wall, knocking her unconscious.
YouTube and owner Google Inc. didn't comment on the case, but said that the sites' policy is to remove clips that show someone getting "hurt, attacked or humiliated." YouTube itself is generally exempt from any liability under the law, and the video itself is technically not illegal. "There is no legal reason this video cannot be shown. It is obviously distasteful, abhorrent what the teenagers did to the victim, but it doesn't really make sense (to ask), 'Should YouTube have taken it down?'" John Morris, senior counsel with the Center for Democracy and Technology, said.
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