MI- Teen Charged For MySpace Beating

Video HERE from WNDU shows the original video from MySpace page and has a further report of the incident.

6-5-2008 Michigan:

ST. JOSEPH, Mich. - A Three Oaks, Mich., teen was charged Tuesday with aggravated assault, accused of beating up another teen and posting video of it on MySpace.

Berrien County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Russell Szwabowski said the prosecutor's office authorized petitioning Joseph "Trey" Ballard, 14, into juvenile court.

For an adult, the crime would be a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail, Szwabowski said.

The victim's mother, Tracy Payne, told Three Oaks Police on May 24 her son, Cody Allwood, 13, was assaulted earlier that evening, and that the video already was on the Internet.

Payne showed police the 30-second video, which later appeared on a news broadcast on WNDU-TV in South Bend.

According to the police report, Ballard hit Allwood in the face, knocking him to ground. Police said the video then shows Ballard punching Allwood 15 times, and kicking him twice.

Allwood told police it was only when Ballard's father told the boy to stop that he let up.

Ballard's father, identified as William Ballard, later told police while he was nearby at the time, he was unaware his son intended to beat up Allwood. According to the report, the assault happened outside Joseph Ballard's grandmother's house, where the boy falsely invited Allwood to come play video games.

Ballard's grandmother is his legal guardian.

Police confirmed the video of the assault was shot by a friend of Joseph Ballard.

The friend told police he had no knowledge of Ballard's plan to beat up Allwood, only instructions to fix a camera on Allwood when Ballard went to retrieve the video game.

Allwood told police the assault left him with a chipped tooth, and "a cracking noise" when closing his jaw.

According to police, Ballard was angry at Allwood for harassing his soon-to-be stepsister.

Allwood allegedly had been repeatedly grabbing the girl's backside over two weeks, and had been suspended from River Valley High School for the behavior. ..News Source.. by David Warfield