Collierville Teens in Court for 'Fight Club'

COLLIERVILLE, Tenn. - Defense attorney Kevin Snider represents one of the Collierville High School students charged with a prize fighting crime for allegedly watching and participating in a fight club.

"In Tennessee, and for that matter most the United States, it is not a crime to watch a crime, so to speak… From a practical standpoint it's probably one of the most unusual cases that I've seen since I've been practicing law."

The City of Collierville claims the students prearranged the fights and then the students showed up to cheer the fight on. Snider says they're arguing there was no organized fight club, rather just teenagers doing what high-schoolers do.

"Certainly there are always fights in high school and certainly there are always going to be people watching fights and we believe that's essentially what the allegations show here."

Two of the students plead guilty in court Friday morning, one student didn't show, and an estimated twenty five other students, almost all with separate attorneys, will return to court on Friday.

Snider says aside from the students who were allegedly involved in the fight, these students didn't break the law.

"If you are out somewhere and happen to witness a crime and watch a crime, you have no duty to report it, no duty to help and you're not committing a crime if you're solely there watching it."

Snider says the amount of students and attorneys have complicated the process, but he believes on Friday they'll come to a decision that won't result in charges for the students charged as observers.