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AP Photo

Ashley Longe, from left, Flannery Mullins and Sharon Chanon Velazquez, all from South Hadley, sit during a hearing last September in Franklin-Hampshire Juvenile Court in Hadley. The three are charged with bullying Phoebe Prince, a 15-year-old South Hadley High School student who hanged herself in January 2010. According to court documents, the case against Velazquez will be resolved May 5.

HADLEY - The case against one of five teens accused of bullying South Hadley High School student Phoebe Prince before her suicide could be resolved next week.

In court papers, the lawyer for 17-year-old Sharon Chanon Velazquez said he and the prosecution expect to reach "an agreed resolution of all matters" May 5.

Specifics of the resolution were unclear. Velazquez's attorney, Colin Keefe, reached Tuesday, would not give any details.

"I've said from the start that public opinion about my client would change when the facts came out," Keefe said. "I think that day will be the 5th."

The Northwestern district attorney's office declined to comment, other than to say it "anticipates that next week there may be significant developments in one or more of the cases against the defendants charged with the alleged bullying of Phoebe Prince."

Velazquez has pleaded not guilty in Franklin Hampshire Juvenile Court to a civil rights violation resulting in a bodily injury and stalking. There are a number of potential resolutions to the charges, including dismissal or guilty pleas.

Lawyers in the case could also recommend pretrial probation or that the charges be continued without a finding, which would result in their dismissal after a period of time, provided Velazquez stays out of further trouble.

Any resolution would have to be approved by a judge.

Keefe said previously he intended to file motions to dismiss the charges. The deadline for such a filing was Tuesday.

But in a court filing dated Monday, Keefe wrote, "It is anticipated that further litigation of said motions will become unnecessary and moot after May 5."

Prince, 15, hanged herself at home Jan. 14, 2010, after what authorities described as relentless harassment by five classmates regarding her dating relationships and Irish origin.

The district attorney brought charges against the six students more than two months later. Velazquez was described by prosecutors as showing "a pattern of assaultive conduct" toward Prince that included crude insults and threats of violence, including one for which she served a one-day school suspension.

Two other defendants, Ashley Longe and Flannery Mullins, are also scheduled to appear in juvenile court May 5. Their attorneys had not filed motions to dismiss as of late Tuesday afternoon, court staff said.

Two defendants charged in Hampshire Superior Court, Kayla Narey and Sean Mulveyhill, have hearings scheduled May 4 and 6.

Austin Renaud, who was charged with statutory rape but is not accused of harassing Prince, is tentatively set to go on trial in Superior Court in July.

James F. Lowe can be reached at jlowe@gazettenet.com.

Phoebe Prince case: Motion for resolution by defendant Sharon Velazquez