in the days leading up to phoebe's death prosecutors say the mean girls bullied her so often phoebe hangedrom information known to investigators thus far it appears phoebe's death on january 14th followed a torturous day for her in which she was subjected to verbal harassment and threatened physical abuse. >> reporter: all six accused bullies have been criminally charged with felonies and could face years in prison. but court documents recently obtained by emily vaselton of "slate" tell a different story, one that suggests the teen's troubles extended beyond the halls of south hadley high. >> the most surprisingly involved her mental health history because that really hadn't been disclosed. >> reporter: the documents revealed that in november of last year phoebe attempted suicide swallowing an antidepressant drug and going into organ failure. also detailed in the documents, phoebe had taken prozac and had a history of cutting herself. an interview with a classmate shows the extent of phoebe's self-mutilation describing how she, quote, lifted up her hoodie and showed cuts on her chest above

phoebe's parents have been silent until now.w with the online magazine slate, phoebe's father is surprisingly compassionate towards the kids charged saying, you want to see the law acknowledged as rnl penalties but without making an example of them. you want to take their ages into account. there will always be younger one who is go with the flow and join in. phoebe's death is still so raw, yet her grieving father says an apology would go a long way. if they confess to the court and said they were sorry, he said, i'd appeal to the court for total leniency. >> a victim or victim's family can't dictate to a judge what the right sentence should be, but a judge will take it into account, and if a family asks for leniency, a judge is much more likely to do it. >> reporter: phoebe's death rocked the family from massachusetts to ireland, where she grew up. and as with any sudden death, there's guilt. it is the great tragedy of my life that i was not there, her father said, but even just weeks before her death, he didn't think phoebe wa

cyber bullying is on the rise and has driven some teens to suicide, like megan myer and phoebe princeed constant harassment through texts, e-mails and social networking sites. >> this out of control has reached epidemic proportions. kids just really need to stop this. so many children are turning to suicide as an alternative, just to get rid of their pain. and that's not right. >> i think that's completely wrong that people would taunt somebody to some degree they would actually kill themselves. that's actually completely wrong and whoever is doing it should be locked away for a really long time over it. >> reporter: up next for jesse slaughter, counseling for her anger while her parents believe she is the victim here, they acknowledge she needs help dealing with her tirades. >> the big [ bleep ] all those haters. >> reporter: they have no plans to make her log off any time soon. i'm andrea canning in palm coast, florida. >> wow. >>> when we come back this morning, palin and kate plus 8. sarah palin and kate gosselin are going camping. >>> and the real juicy one, julianne hough explai