Despite the judge's ruling, defense attorneys did expose holes in the investigation by MTA police. Greene emphasized that police let 12 to 16 passengers walk away from the scene and never followed up with the school's principal to get their names or interview them.
One investigator delayed filing his report for months. Photo arrays weren't conducted until nine days after the attack. The initial police report contained errors.
And after police stopped two groups of students - and Ennis and bus driver Danny Williams identified participants in the fight - those let go were never questioned and their contact information was never gleaned.
Defense attorneys also tried to damage Williams' credibility. Soon after the attack, he said, "As far as being hit, if I did, I didn't feel it." On the witness stand, he said he was punched and kicked.
MTA police "worked the case backward," said Thomas, who said her client "got spit on, knocked down ... and she fought back. She was scared."
Thomas called Kreager the "queen bee" in the incident, who didn't "sting," as prosecutors alleged that McDaniels did, but "spit venom."
But in the end, it was one of the accused's own statements to police that captured the hatred the students felt for Kreager, Hankin argued.
Police asked one of the boys, a 15-year-old, how he felt about "the victims being assaulted? One being in the hospital?"
The boy replied, "I don't feel no ... I don't feel nothing."
melissa.harris@baltsun.com gus.sentementes@baltsun.com
Sun reporter Brent Jones contributed to this article.
