Suspect in Beating Must Keep Mum on Case

BARTOW | Mercades Nichols stepped up to the microphone. The 17-year-old's voice was soft and low in the crowded courtroom.

"I'd like to go to church," she said. "That's my main thing."

Nichols, who is being home-schooled, also said she wanted permission to get a job.

But that was all she was able to say - for now.

Circuit Judge Keith Spoto on Tuesday denied Nichols' request to be able to speak to the media regarding criminal charges against her in the March 30 videotaped beating of Victoria Lindsay, a 17-year-old former Mulberry High School cheerleader. But he did ease other restrictions on her.

After the brief hearing, a frenzy of activity took place outside the courtroom. Reporters and video-camera operators jockeyed for position around the girl, dressed in jeans and a light green shirt.

Nichols' mother, Christina Garcia, chastised someone for getting too close and accidentally touching her daughter.

"Please do not touch my daughter," she said. "OK. Have mutual respect, and I will do the same."

Garcia said she was unhappy with the judge's decision to prevent her daughter from offering an apology and speaking about the case.

Nichols' release on bail includes a restriction that she not speak about the case or topics relating to it.

Garcia denied Tuesday that Nichols might have gone on the talk show circuit if she had been allowed to give interviews. A strange twist came in April when staff members for television host Dr. Phil McGraw helped Nichols post bail.

A spokesman for the show later told The Ledger that the staff members' actions went beyond the show's guidelines for helping guests and a planned television segment was canceled.

Nichols' motion indicated that she might issue a "possible apology" and was seeking permission to travel out-of-state "for the purpose of giving interviews relating to this case."

Nichols' lawyer, James Holz, said Lindsay is being represented by Gloria Allred, a California lawyer known for handling high-profile cases.

Holz said his client has been denied her right to express herself and defend herself amid an onslaught of media coverage.

He questioned why no one has been asking what led up to the videotaped beating.

"You'll find out in the trial," he said. "That's where the fun is."

In a telephone interview, Allred said victims as well as defendants are entitled to representation. She said Holz's comments show his client does have a voice.

"He appears to be speaking on her behalf," Allred said.

But during Tuesday's hearing, Holz argued before the judge that Nichols should be allowed to speak for herself.

"Right now, the victim and other people are openly speaking to media whenever they want," Holz said.

"The Sheriff's Department weekly is on television speaking about this case. It just seems to me that everybody is speaking about the case - except the person alleged," he said. He said Nichols wants her voice to be heard.

"She has basically been demonized within the media," he said. The judge denied the request.

Spoto did agree to lift house arrest conditions, allowing Nichols to seek employment and go to church. She must still abide by other pretrial release conditions, including a curfew.

Nichols is one of eight teens accused of beating Lindsay on March 30. Six girls are accused in her beating while two male teens are accused of acting as lookouts outside the home.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd has said Lindsay was "lured" to the home, and the beating was videotaped so it could be posted on YouTube and MySpace.

In an interview, Holz again said Judd was looking for media attention, adding there was no "grand scheme of luring."

A sheriff's spokeswoman declined to comment on Holz's statements.

At the hearing, Assistant State Attorney Vincent Patrucco told the judge that evidence shows Nichols was part of the beating.

"She had a primary role in orchestrating it," he said.

But Holz argued Lindsay was living in the home, and she wasn't lured there. Nichols also warned Lindsay not to enter the house, he said.

"If Mercades was this grand person who is in charge of doing this malicious attack, why would she be warning the victim not to enter the house," he said. Investigative reports state Lindsay told detectives that Nichols had been contacting her with text messages on the day of the beating.

But Holz said the video shows Nichols' cellular phone being used by another teenager, and Nichols denies sending text messages to Lindsay that day.

"Mercades Nichols is looking at life imprisonment while the victim got two black eyes," Holz said. "The victim went to work four days after this event."

Allred said she would not comment on the evidence in the case, but the State Attorney's Office thought the evidence was strong enough to file charges. She said her client's injuries would "speak for themselves."

Nichols and the seven other teens face kidnapping and battery charges. The kidnapping charges are first-degree felonies that carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.

The battery charges are first-degree misdemeanors that carry a maximum sentence of a year in jail.

Nichols and two other girls also face a third-degree felony charge of tampering with a witness, which carries a maximum of five years in prison.

[ Reporter Jason Geary can be reached at jason.geary@theledger.com or 863-802-7536. ]