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Treacy Attorney Looking To Question Ratley About Attack

FORT LAUDERDALE (CBS4) – Invoking the legal right of the accused being able to confront the witnesses against them, an attorney for a Pompano Beach teen accused of stomping Josie Lou Ratley as she lay helpless on the ground wants to question her about the events of that day.

Her doctor said Ratley, now 16, suffered irreversible brain damage from the attack.

Wayne Treacy, 16, allegedly attacked Ratley on March 17, 2010, at the bus stop in front of Deerfield Beach Middle School after a heated exchange of text messages.

Treacy has been charged as an adult for 1st degree attempted murder which could give him up to 50 years jail time.

According to the Sun-Sentinel, Treacy's attorney Russell Williams has argued that his client should not have been charged with such a serious crime and will put a lot of focus during his defense on Treacy's mental health.

"He's a smart kid and he's wasting away in there," Williams told the paper.

Treacy has reportedly admitted that he rode a bike to the school to confront Ratley after receiving a text message from her phone telling him to "go visit" his dead brother referring to his older brother's body, which was found hanging from a tree in front of a church five months earlier. Treacy told psychologist Michael Brannon when he received the text message, "an explosion went off inside" and he put on his brother's clothes and steel-toe boots, which he used to kick Ratley in the head.

Brannon said Treacy suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of his brother's suicide.

Also charged as a juvenile in the attack was Kayla Manson, 14, who allegedly helped Treacy find Ratley when he arrived at the school. Manson has said she didn't know what Treacy was planning to do.

Williams hopes to question Ratley before the next hearing date, Oct.5.

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