After a trial that quickly garnered attention around the nation, two Steubenville teenagers have been found guilty of raping their 16 year old female classmate.
At first, the scandal that has since rocked the small town of Steubenville, Ohio went largely unnoticed by most of America. Early on there were even reports that the community was even trying to keep the situation under wraps to protect the two accused rapists. The accused also happened to be promising football players on the schools highly-decorated football team.
Whatever cover-up there may have been, however, did not last for long. The story of this incident soon found its way to the online forum Reddit, among others, and from there the story quickly unraveled. When all was said and done, Ma'lik Richmond and Trent Mays were found guilty of rape Sunday, with Mays receiving an additional charge of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material.
The assault occurred at a post-game party last August, where Richmond, 16, and Mays, 17, were both drinking throughout the night. The victim, unnamed, was present as well and drank enough alcohol to blackout at some point during the night. As is often the case, at this point, everything went downhill. Mays and Richmond escorted the victim to another room and, with several of their classmates watching, began to undress and fondle the girl.
It is possible that they would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for incriminating evidence that was soon posted on popular social media websites soon after. Additionally, Mays had sent picture messages to several people with what appeared to be semen on the passed out victim.
What seems to have drawn the most ire from people around the nation was the boy's lack of remorse and failure to understand the severity of what they had done. Immediately after the incident, derogatory tweets referencing the girl were sent on the social networking site Twitter, many of which acknowledged the rape in an almost joking manner.
"I didn't rape anybody. I didn't witness a rape going on. And if I would have thought that somebody was being raped or anything like that," said Richmond, "I would have stopped it."
In the end, however, there was simply too much evidence to believe that anything other than rape had occurred that night. As the trial went on, the boys became more and more emotional, both crying and offering their apologies. It did little to change the mind of the judge, who ordered sentences that could see Richmond imprisoned until he's 21 and Mays until 24. The lead prosecutor noted in his remarks that the boys showed "no remorse" throughout much of the proceedings, and Judge Thomas Lipps observed that they "might be dealing with emotions" since the consequences "were now dawning on them."
This ordeal is not quite over yet, however, as the magnitude and visibility of this trial will almost certainly lead to a grand jury hearing that is likely to take place in mid-April. At that point time, it is likely that more charges will be levied, including failure to report a felony and tampering with evidence, among others.
