Teen Claims ‘Friends’ Lured Her to Dark Woods for Brutal Beatdown

You don't scare me. Okay, let her go, Haley. Come on. Come on, Haley. We got. to go. Come on. Okay. Two teen girls out in Illinois are. accused of beating up other people, including an alleged assault that was. maybe captured on video. This is a wild. case with wild allegations that we're. going to get into right now. Welcome to. Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm. Jesse Weber.

Two Illinois 18-year-olds could face. months behind bars after being charged. with what's being called mob action. We'll talk about the legal definition of. that in a minute. But it appears that. not only these allegations, but some of. this might have been recorded and maybe. shared. April 23rd, Haley Ditzer and. Olivia Brown were booked into the jail. in Madison County, Illinois, which is in. the southeast part of the state near St. Louis. And the teens are accused of. targeting a local woman, luring her into.

a wooded area and attacking her. And. members of the community say that's not. the only person they've allegedly beaten. up. Talk about this. I want to bring in. criminal defense attorney Andrew. Baldwin. Andrew, so good to see you. Thanks for taking the time to come back. here on Sidebar. Good to see you again, Jesse. So Andrew, according to the. charging information, Ditler and Brown. acting together allegedly dragged the. victim into the woods, repeatedly. punched and kicked her in the face,

mouth, stomach, arms, legs. This is a, if true, a full-blown assault on her. entire body. Certainly seems like the. allegation would be it's premeditated. Um, what's just your initial reaction to. an alleged crime like this? Well, as a. defense lawyer, when you get uh somebody. walking into your office that says, "My. my daughter's been accused of this. crime." You go through your thoughts as. a defense lawyer, first and foremost, they're presumed innocent, and you're. hoping that there's going to be some um.

lack of evidence or some some evidence. that's helpful for the client. Then you. also uh flip on your human being side, your your your parent, you're a parent. uh uh and you start to think, my god, you know, what is what's going on here? If this is really if this really. happened. And so those those things kind. of conflict at times. And so just as a. defense lawyer, if that's what you're. asking, um you really have to kind of. push that down, right? Uh those feelings. as a parent and you got to say, let's.

look at the elements of the crime. Can. we can we defeat this case? So, what. might complicate or what makes this a. little bit different now is that while. Ditler and Brown, they only face charges. right now in connection with that. attack, that alleged attack, another. teen has apparently come forward to say. that she was also attacked by Ditler and. Brown in a very similar manner. Evie. Barren apparently posted videos of her. alleged assault on social media after it. appeared footage of the attack was.

shared on Snapchat by Haley Ditsler. In. one of the videos, one of the suspects. apparently places their phone on the. ground, pointed it toward a basketball. court. It's dark out there, but you can. see the outline of someone seemingly. dragging someone else into the frame. And you can hear as at least one of the. suspects starts apparently assaulting. Barren. And based on the footage that. she shared, Barren doesn't appear to. fight back and can be heard saying. things like, "Okay, I'm sorry guys. Please stop." And it appears that Barren.

refers to both Haley and Olivia by. anime. And after landing a few blows, the suspect, who we believe to be Olivia. Brown, picks up the phone while still. recording and appears to think the fight. is over. But a person referred to in the. video as Haley continues to cuss at. Barretts. And you can hear more blows. landing. Barren's screams get louder and. more intense. And Brown seems more and. more concerned that someone might come. to Barren's aid. No, Haley, we got it.

We got it. Shut the. up. Come on. Fight me. We did it. You. guys jumped me. You bite one of. us. foot. Oh, you fight one of us 101. I. would let you get your shoe on because. I'm not. ass. I'm telling her go.

me. I can't. You can see me though. You. can see me. Olivia, stop. No, you stop. So, the girl believed to be Olivia. repeatedly tries to get Haley to leave. with her, saying, "We made her scream. It's over." And as the two teens finally. walked away, they could be heard telling. Barren or allegedly telling telling. Barren to never disrespect either of. them ever again. Okay, Andrew. First, let's talk about if this video is what. it purports to be, can that be used as.

evidence in the other criminal case? That's a great question, Jesse. And in. most situations, the answer would be no. Uh the the rule of evidence that usually. u prevails is uh 404b and it does not. allow a uh prosecutor to admit evidence. of a prior bad act. However, uh under. 404b there are permitted uses when you. can bring in that evidence and one of. those permitted uses is for MO or modus.

operendi when there is kind of a. signature of the way that they do things. and that could fit the bill here. And uh. that would be pretty devastating on the. case uh with Miss Ditler and Miss Brown. if if that were allowed to to come into. evidence. And so in other words to. establish a pattern a pattern of attack. But but I guess the question would be. and just to be clear you don't have to. be charged with that evidence to come. in. They don't have to be be convicted. or charged. It could just be you know.

this Miss Baron's taking the stand. saying this happened playing the video. Yeah. Absolutely. Uh it would be highly. contentious in the courtroom. Uh in a. pre-trial motion, you'd probably bring. her in there and the judge would have to. it be really factually based. Is this so. similar? Is this so such a pattern that. we can rely on it to not do what it's. really intended to do and that is to. show that these girls are acting and uh.

with in that Miss Brown and Miss Ditler. did exactly what they did previously and. that's the whole that's a forbidden. inference that's not allowed. The 404B. will allow it if a judge allows it. By. the way, off topic, but another serious. issue I want to talk about with you real. quick. Debt. Debt doesn't just show up. one day. It builds little by little. Credit cards, car loans, medical bills, and suddenly you're juggling payments. You're feeling stuck. Here's the good. news. You got American Financing as our. sponsor. So, they help homeowners like.

you every day. They use your home's. equity, and they roll that highest debt. into one simple, affordable payment. They're saving homeowners an average of. $800 a month. No judgment, no pressure, just real solutions that put you back in. control. It starts with one call. Only. takes 10 minutes to get started. And. there are no upfront fees, so it cost. you nothing to find out how much you can. save. And if you start today, you may be. able to delay your next two mortgage. payments. American Financing salarybased. consultants are ready to listen and. they're ready to help. Take back your. peace of mind with American Financing. Call American Financing today at.

866891-28-21. That's. 866891-28-21. Or go to. americanfancing.net/sidebar. At the time of this recording, she has. they haven't been charged with respect. to barren. My understanding is why do. you think that might be? It's hard to know. In today's world, there's crazy things that happen on. these uh especially with young people. and you want to make sure that this. wasn't contrived perhaps. Like is this. everybody involved in a show? I know.

that sounds crazy that uh maybe Miss. Barren is part of a crew of people that. are trying to get likes on a on a Tik. Tok page or something like that. Maybe. that's what it is. I mean, prosecutors. have to be very careful nowadays before. they file anything involving uh video on. online, especially young people, because. they have a tendency of uh doing things. that we adults would not expect. Just. what's your reaction to that video?

Because the video evidence is so. important? I mean, it so compelling for. a jury and let's say they are charged in. connection with that attack, that. alleged attack. How do you argue against. that? What do you say about a video like. that? Well, life, as I often say, is uh crazy. in other people's worlds. And like I. said before, you don't know exactly what. was going on. uh text. contextually behind the scenes. Was this. were these three girls involved with.

one? It doesn't seem that way. It seems. like it's legit. So, as a defense. lawyer, you're trying you're trying to. find out is there more to the story. here? So, you got some early decisions. to make. Am I going. to accept it for what it is and and uh. go to the then go to the prosecutor and. say, "Hey, let's let's work out a deal. before this kind of gets out of control, or are you going to fight it?" Normally, I like to let the evidence come to me. first before I start making decisions. like that. I want to find out what they. have and what they don't have. And I.

really don't want to find out from my. client necessarily early on, like, tell. me what happened. I want to wait until. the evidence comes to me. But in a case. like this, when there's going to be some. publicity and the evidence is seemingly. really awful video evidence, maybe you. find out more quickly from your client, did this did this really happen? because. if it did, I need to do some damage. control and we need to get in there. before, you know, Ditler. If I'm. representing Ditler, then I want the the. better deal first. And if I'm. representing Brown, I want the better.

deal first. Let's get that best deal. first. Now, uh Barren also shared a short clip. of herself in her car after the alleged. attack, showing a cut on her knee, makeup running down her face from. crying. Take a look. Bro, I I don't know. what to do, bro. It's crazy, bro. My whole head is like pounding. Now, Barren told First Alert 4 in St. Louis that did Ditler and Brown they. have perpetrated multiple attacks in.

Madison and St. Clair counties and that. while they were all once friends, she. distanced herself from the two after. they started allegedly targeting people. Now, Andrew, generally speaking, are we. seeing a lot of youth violence cases. like these allegations? Have you been. covering them? Are are you seeing an. uptick in them at all? Big time. I mean, it's I I I've done this for 30 plus. years now, and I've not ever seen the. amount of youth on youth violence. Maybe.

it was always going on and they just. didn't videotape it and and throw it on. uh YouTube or whatever and therefore it. it has always gone on. But uh that's not. what I think. I think uh it's kind of. driven by social media because like. again even this victim uh if if if she. is a victim Barren she goes on. television or on she goes on uh she's in. her car and she Why are you you just got. beat up. Why are you doing that? It's. it's a weird there's kind of a weird. sickness going on with the youth. Well,

you could say she's trying to bring. awareness to this. I mean, she spoke. with uh Five on your side telling the. outlet that she'd been hanging out with. friends when she saw a bunch of boys in. ski mask sneaking up to their car. She. says she saw Brown and Ditler, drove. away, and the next day she claims her. former friends texted her saying they. wanted to apologize, lured her out to. the spot where the attack allegedly. happened. So, it seems to me the ar the. counter-argument to that would be. Andrew, she's trying to bring awareness. to what happened or allegedly happened. to her. Well, I think going to uh news.

media is one thing, but going on uh your. Facebook page and posting about it is is. something different. I mean, now we're. not talking about the law, we're just. talking about society. I just find it to. be an odd thing to do and it makes her. less appealing as a as a victim as well. and maybe as a defense lawyer I could. could glom on to that a little bit. somehow. Now Barren's mother, Lara. McCord, told First Alert 4, quote, "She. was scraped up like road rash on her leg. and her back. She had bruises on her. back. She had a swollen eye. It was. bloodshot, a bruise on her other. Her.

lip was busted a little, but the most. concerning thing is that she had a. concussion. So I imagine um Andrew that. is that a medical conclusion from. medical reports? Um it's important for. this to be documented. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. Of course. I mean later on whether. it's an element of the crime might. require uh a definition that includes. concussion or something like that. So. yeah, you or broken bones or scrapes or. pain. So you definitely want to get to a. hospital and get that if you're a. prosecutor, you want to get those.

records. Now I want to talk about what they're. facing. So with that separate attack. regarding that woman uh that alleged uh. attack Brown and Ditler, they face a. charge of mob action. So according to. the Illinois criminal statute, it says a. person commits mob action when he or she. engages in the knowing or reckless use. of force or violence disturbing the. public peace by two or more persons. acting together and without authority of. law. And the teens could face between.

one and three years in prison if they're. convicted of it. That's our. understanding. Never seen a charge like. that. Mob action. Yeah, mob action. When. I saw that, uh, it it's kind of a funny. it's kind of a funny title for a crime. And it's not I thought, well, maybe this. is social mediadriven legislation that. caused that. But it's been around since. the 19 at least since the 1990s. I was. going through some of the case law that. details uh you know what it is and what. it what it isn't according to the court. of appeals in Illinois and know it's.

been around a while and um uh you know. there's been some overturned convictions. of mob action because it it's there's a. specific intent of why that legislation. exists is that and I imagine one of the. areas that a defense attorney could hone. in on is acting together in concert. Yeah. And I wonder that could be an area. where you say, "Well, wait a minute. I. wasn't on board with that. I just was. watching." I mean, Right. Talk to me. about what that what that issue could. be. Yeah, you nailed it. I mean, one of.

the cases that I read talked about it. was uh two groups of people, two two. guys were in a fight and then they each. had a buddy and standing next to them. and then those two guys got in a fight. over the other two fighting. And so it. was uh two groups of people. uh it it. seemingly met the definition under the. statute but then in the end the court of. appeal there was a conviction and then. the court of appeals said no that's two. different things uh they were not acting. in concert on the same thing so with. Miss Ditzler and Miss Brown I mean you.

know it's it could be fact intensive it. seems kind of self-explanatory these. these girls uh worked in concert. together lured this uh lur into the. woods but what happens if one is arguing. about you know you you said this about. you dissed my boyfriend and the other. one is like, "Well, in third grade you. did this to me." And they're arguing. about two different things. Can you. argue that that that's not acting in. concert? They're actually arguing about. two different things. I know it seems, you know, for for non- lawyers, they may. think, well, that's just a silly. argument. But those are the types of.

things that that might win the day, might get the charges even dismissed. If they are convicted of this, what what. do you imagine the punishment could be? Well, like you said, I one to three. years is what they're facing. and. they're 18 years old. You know, I looked. at their mug shot and if I were a. prosecutor, I would take that mug shot. and they seemed, you know, you don't. want to read too much into a mug shot, but I'm sitting here looking at it. They. seem. very non-are. They they seem like they.

just don't care. They're smiling. They're smirking almost. You can almost. read into it like, "Oh, we're going to. get some good clicks on this or. something." I mean, and um if I were a. judge and I and I saw that those mug. shots and if the girls demeanor is. consistent with that at sentencing, I. got to tell you as a judge, I might say. this is an important time in their life. They're 18 years old. They're not. they're they're doing this other places. Perhaps they need to spend a little time. in jail and really think this through. And then they need to get some. counseling and things like that. You. know, when they're 18, it's it and they.

don't have a prior criminal history. If. that is the case, it's easy to think uh. let's slap them on the wrist and let. them go on their way maybe with some. counseling, but I I don't know if that. is going to help them as human beings on. their uh the road that they travel. Now, Baron's told First Alert 4, they don't. care and I feel like they would do it. again if they hadn't gotten caught. They. would still be out here doing it and. still be trying to find me. And she says. she's now filed a restraining order. against Brown and Ditler. checked. Madison County court records and found. that there are emergency no contact.

orders in place with a hearing scheduled. for later this month. I mean, Andrew, um, something to point out about this is. we did reach out uh to Barren and her. mom, Lara McCord. Uh, they declined to. speak with us now that the investigation. is ongoing, but McCord did post an. update on Facebook saying, "Hello. everyone. I am Eevee Barren's mom. Mom, I'm asking everyone to please stop. threatening Haley Ditzler's and Olivia. Brown's family. They are getting death. threats. Please just let the justice. system handle this. Thank you everyone. And look, you certainly don't want to.

see reciprocal violence or some sort of. revenge attack or anything like that. We've seen in the past that sometimes. people can have serious bravado behind a. screen that might get them in trouble in. real life, but that's a serious problem. and and it's the idea of the no contact. order. Let's first start there. Um. what's the purpose of it? How effective. is it? And also, do you see the concern. about posting so much on this on social. media? Yeah, the the protective order um. some people say it's only as good as.

the, you know, as a piece of paper. You. can walk right through that protective. order if you really want to. I think. most of the time it does its job. The. purpose of it, of course, is uh to to. prevent uh Ditler and Brown from uh. going after uh the victim again, the the. alleged victim again. and uh because if. they do, they face new consequences. They first of all, they they might u. revoke their bond and they just stay in. jail during the entirety of the case.

So, I I think it can be it's really the. only thing that you can do. And as far. as uh the other uh thing you're talking. about there, Jesse, which is um I see. this all the time where the victim's uh. family uh does come out and say, "Hey, take it easy on the other side," which. is a nice thing society to see, yeah, that the mom is doing that. I think it's. a really terrific uh way to operate. Um. and uh so I I appreciate that. Just even.

as a defense lawyer, I can say that's. that's a great thing to do, mom. Way to. go. And speaking of this, by the way, so. Barren herself apparently posted about. her own past conduct a few days after. the alleged attack, saying in part, "Everyone I have fought in my life, I've. made up with and are my friends now. For. people to blame me for this is so. hurtful. I've got with wrong crowds. before and been in bad situations. Everyone makes mistakes. I would never. hurt someone how these girls hurt me. I. would never wish this on anyone." And. she later posted an update writing, "My.

fight videos are going to come out, of. course. I've never hurt someone as bad. as these girls hurt people. Again, I am. friends with the girls I fought. People. are going to come at me and make up. false things. I really hate it. I am not. the same as Haley and Olivia. I've had a. fight phase, but I've never been sick. like them. I would never hurt someone. like them. This hurts my mental health. and I cannot take it. Andrew, what do. you make of that? Wow. I'm salivating as. a defense lawyer right now listening to. that because now the game changes a. little bit. if if what she's doing is.

preemptively uh telling the world like, "Hey, there's going to be some fight. videos of where I've been the aggressor. and I've beat up some people." Now you. get into self-defense. Now you get into. other possible defenses out there and. now the 404b that I talked about earlier. may turn the tables on Barren where it's. like where meaning if she testifies this. could come against her. Oh, absolutely. I mean I I would be absolutely fighting. for that. uh if especially if they are. charged with Dler and Brown are charged. with crimes against her, that's.

absolutely going to be grounds uh for uh. fighting over whether those videos come. in. And now you're talking about an. entirely different ballgame as a defense. lawyer. You you you don't fear the video. as much because there's other video that. they have to fear and then that becomes. a tool for plea negotiations. M by the way, in a motion that was uh. filed with the court, prosecutors. requested special bail conditions to. prevent the suspects from having any. contact with the other girl that they. allegedly attacked. The motion states, "The defendant has previously threatened.

or perpetrated physical abuse toward the. victim in this matter. On information. and belief, the defendant presents a. continued threat to the victim and the. defendant may harm, harass, or interfere. with the personal liberty of the victim. during the pendency of this action.". Now, the court records indicate that the. judge signed off on standard and. additional pre-trial release rules, but. it's unclear if the defendants were. required to post any sort of cash bond. before they released. Andrew, you have. thoughts on this? Well, it's probably.

more talking about uh a protective. order of of the court's uh own choosing. versus a a separate protective order in. a in a separate action. the judge as a. condition of bond can say, "Hey, you. cannot be hanging around those girls. You can't talk about them on social. media. Your friends can't go harass. those girls. If you do any of that. stuff, you're going back to jail. That's. your condition of bond." And that is. probably what that's talked being talked. about. They have a right to a bond, a. constitutional right to a bond. And uh.

but if they are released and they get in. contact, if the judge says you cannot. get in contact, that that means they'll. get thrown right back in jail. Yeah. By. the way, they have a uh both the Ditler. and Brown, they have a preliminary. hearing on May 16th. What can we expect. from a preliminary hearing? Uh, usually. those are are a nothing burger. There's. not a whole lot going on. It's hey, when. when are we going to get our trial date? Is there anything I as a judge can do. for you to to uh expedite discovery? Uh.

things like that. Um, it might be the. judge taking an opportunity to to remind. Ditler and Brown that they are not. allowed to have any communication uh. with uh the alleged victim and and that. kind of thing. So, it's it's a lot of. housekeeping. Oh, I thought it was, you. know, they present enough evidence to. move forward. It's almost like, you. know, what prosecution what do you have? Is there probable cause? Would I be. right about that? Well, this is where. I'm sorry to interrupt, Jesse. Yeah, you. might be right on that. Um, I'm not in. Illinois. I'm in I'm next door in.

Indiana. Sure. In Indiana, that's what a. pre-trial hearing is. In Illinois, that. might be that might be something uh a. little bit more u adventurous than what. we do in Indiana. Well, do in Indiana, are there preliminary hearings where the. prosecution has to put forward evidence. to establish probable cause? Because I'. I've spoken to defense attorneys before. who say we kind of like it. You know, kind of gives us a view about what the. prosecution has, where they're going. There are other defendants who wave a. preliminary hearing. Uh talk to us about. that. Yeah, in Indiana we we charge by.

information, meaning um it's a piece of. paper sworn by the prosecution that all. these facts are true um as detailed by. the police officer and then a judge. looks at it and if it meets the. definition of the elements are met. through the through the um the. information, the probable cause. affidavit, then the judge signs off on. it. In Ohio, where I I I went to law. school, uh it's different. And it's more. like what you're talking about where. there's a an a hearing and they bring in. law enforcement and you that's really in. Ohio that's really your only opportunity.

to cross-examine the law enforcement. officer because they're not going to. talk to you afterwards in Ohio. In. Indiana we have depositions that we can. conduct. We're one of the r the few. states that does that. But they don't do. that in Ohio. I don't think they do that. in Illinois. So yeah, if you're a. defense lawyer, you do I'm guessing you. never want to wave an initial hearing on. a on a case like this especially. You. want to get as much information on the. record so that later on at trial, if. there is a trial, you can impeach the. witness with their prior testimony.

Absolutely. Absolutely. And and as they. should, that's their uh that's a great. mechanism to uh cast doubt on the. prosecution's case. Uh Andrew Baldwin, great seeing you. Thank you so much for. taking the time to talk about the case. Thank you, Jesse. All right, everybody. That's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Thank you so much for. joining us. And as always, please. subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next. time. [Music].