During closing statements, defense attorney Barbara Greene said, "There's nothing like an ugly racial slur and a little spit to turn things ugly."
And defense attorney Kimberly Thomas said her client was the victim.
"There's a victim sitting right here, your honor," she said, pointing to Nakita McDaniels, 15. "A victim, and she's charged?"
During these statements, Kreager sat next to Ennis, taking notes, shaking her head and eventually breaking down in tears. When Young called a five-minute break, Kreager began sobbing in Hankin's arms.
Kreager returned to the courtroom at the city's Juvenile Justice Center to watch Hankin dissect McDaniels' initial statement to Maryland Transit Administration Police on the day of the attack at 33rd Street and Chestnut Avenue.
Going line by line through a packet of transcribed statements, Hankin pointed out that McDaniels had repeatedly said that Ennis ordered Kreager to "spit on them bitches" and did not use a racial slur.
McDaniels then alleged that Ennis had reboarded the bus wielding a knife - an allegation not substantiated by witnesses - and said, "I'll stab those [racial epithet]." Hankin pointed out other discrepancies and described how the students had plenty of time to "collude" as they dispersed from the scene and eventually were stopped by police.
"This has divided the community and created unnecessary racial tension," Hankin, deputy chief of the juvenile division of the city state's attorney's office, said after the ruling.
The five teens will learn their punishment April 3. The names of most of them are not being divulged because The Sun does not report the identities of juvenile offenders. But McDaniels' name became public after she filed countercharges against Kreager in adult court, which prosecutors did not pursue.
Assistant State's Attorney Dawn Jones accused McDaniels of being the "queen bee" in a "beehive," by taking up two seats on the crowded bus and then harassing Kreager after she boarded and sat down.
"That's my homegirl's seat," Kreager testified that McDaniels said.
Kreager then moved closer to Ennis, who responded, "You know how these kids are these days. [Our daughter] has more manners," Jones told the judge. "That's when the queen bee rose: `What you say? You white bitches think you own everything.'"
