Lawyers drop contempt motion for sexual assault tweet

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LOUISVILLE, Ky., July 24 (UPI) -- Lawyers for two teens who pleaded guilty to assaulting a Kentucky teenage girl say they're dropping a contempt motion against her for tweeting the boys' names.

The attorneys had claimed Savannah Dietrich, also 17, violated court rules and a Jefferson District Court judge's gag order in Louisville by disclosing the boys' names.

The Louisville Courier-Journal reported David Mejia, an attorney for one of the teen defendants, said the story has gone worldwide because of an article Saturday in The Courier-Journal, and now there was no reason for the contempt motion.

The newspaper did not name the teen defendants, and usually does not identify minors in juvenile court, except in some cases like murder.

The report said Dietrich was frustrated by what she felt was a lenient plea bargain for the two defendants. The pair pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting her and circulating pictures of the incident. Last month, Dietrich tweeted their names and criticized the justice process.

"There you go, lock me up," Dietrich tweeted in June about the contempt citation, The Courier-Journal reported. "I'm not protecting anyone that made my life a living Hell." Dietrich told police she had been assaulted after drinking and passing out. Pictures ended up on the Internet.

More than 70,000 people signed a Change.org petition asking the judge not to charge her with contempt, the report said.

The two male teens are to be sentenced later. The report did not give a date.