Attorney: Justice delayed in Carmel basketball bully case

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - The attorney for the freshman who says he was bullied by two former Carmel High School basketball players is speaking out after one of the charges were dropped against the players.

Robert Turner says Hamilton County Prosecutor Sonia Leerkamp has wasted valuable time in this case while his client continues to suffer.

"Justice delayed is justice denied! And that's what's happening here! Justice is being denied here! There are still victims here that have never been identified!" Turner said Friday.

Leerkamp said Thursday she had to drop the battery charge against Brandon Hoge and Robert Kitzinger because the bus incident happened in Hendricks County not Hamilton County. In short, that means one misdemeanor charge has been dropped against them in Hamilton County while the others remain.

The attorneys for the teens also later rallied in favor of Hendricks County, something Turner says should have been the case from square one and now he says his client is paying the price.

"He's still obviously very, very fearful. He's very embarrassed by this," Turner said. "He doesn't know who knows, who doesn't, but he does know that when he was still in Carmel that the students were whispering about it and joking about it as he walked down the hallways. So being a child and in light of the fact that so many young people have committed suicide because of this kind of taunting, you can imagine what he might be going through psychologically!" he added.

Turner says politics in this case has set things back more than eight months and now it's back to square one. He says his client still wants to see the video reportedly showing a bullying incident.

Turner says the big question now is whether Hendricks County will simply investigate the charges or convene a grand jury which will take much longer.

Calls from Hendricks County Prosecutor Pat Baldwin have yet to be returned.