[T]wo Barre teens are facing felony charges following an alleged attack on another student at Spaulding High School late last month, which one of them allegedly shared on Snapchat, a smartphone messaging app.
Police affidavits filed with the court describe an assault that took place at the school on Nov. 29. Barre City Police allege 17-year-old Ethan Burachowski hit another student with a backpack, body-slammed him against a shelving unit and then used a drumstick to attempt to sodomize the victim through his clothing. Burachowski’s 18-year-old girlfriend, Grace Pierce, allegedly filmed the event and later shared portions of the video on social media.
Another student who had seen the full video told police Pierce can be heard on it laughing and egging on the attack, telling Burachowski at one point to “get the drumstick.”
Burachowski faces felony counts of aggravated assault and attempted sexual assault, and a misdemeanor charge for disorderly conduct. The aggravated assault charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Pierce faces a felony charge for aiding in commission of an aggravated assault, and two misdemeanor counts for disorderly conduct and distributing indecent material to a minor. Her felony charge carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.
Both Pierce and Burachowski pleaded not guilty to the charges in Washington Superior Court on Thursday and were released on conditions. A status conference is expected in February.
Burachowski’s case was first brought forward in juvenile court, where proceedings are sealed, but the aggravated assault charge pushed the case into criminal court.
“As investigation furthered and we got more information, it became clear that there was a basis for an aggravated assault charge. Aggravated assault is one of the big 12 offenses that must be brought in criminal division,” said Washington County State’s Attorney Rory Thibault.
Neither Burachowski nor the victim are currently enrolled at Spaulding, but Pierce remains a student there, attorneys for the defendants told the court.
Prosecutors still haven’t seen the full minute-long video; only the shortened version was shared on the video and photo messaging app Snapchat. Court documents filed by police say law enforcement have Pierce’s phone but that it is passcode-protected, and that Pierce’s parents have thus far declined to provide the code.
Thibault said the state can’t force Pierce to produce it because it could be considered compelling someone to produce evidence against themselves. “This is something that we will be referring to the technology information unit at Vermont State Police to see if we can crack open the phone and see the video,” he said.
According to court documents, another student and friend of Pierce’s told police that her group of friends had a history of picking on the victim because he “didn’t really fit in much.”
But she told police she “knew she had to do something” after Pierce showed her the full video of the attack. She told her parents about the incident that same day, she said, and then asked Pierce to send her a copy of the video. Pierce did, and the student showed the video to Spaulding Assistant Principal Jim Ferland the next day.
The student told police that she contacted the victim that evening to tell him she wanted him to feel safe at school, according to the court papers. “I encouraged him to tell his parents because they will show support, and that the people in this attack will be accounted for,” she told police.