Steubenville, OH, high school football players Trent Mays, 17, and Ma’lik Richmond, 16, were found guilty of rape today in a juvenile court trial. Judge Thomas Lipps also deemed Mays guilty of disseminating a nude photo of a minor. Richmond was sentenced to a minimum of one year in a juvenile correction facility and Mays to at least two years. They will both be credited with time already served, but could potentially remain in juvenile jail until they’re 21.
The teen victim in the case was a 16-year-old young woman who was reportedly unresponsively drunk during the time that the young men raped her digitally. In her testimony, she said she remembered little about the events of the night because she had been so intoxicated. Another Steubenville football player (who was granted immunity) admitted to making and posting a cellphone video on YouTube of one of the rape incidents. He also testified that Mays tried to have the young woman perform a sex act on him but that she didn’t respond.
For more about the Steubenville case from Ms. Bloggers, see:
“Thinking About the Steubenville Rape and Raising a Son”
“The 18,437 Perpetrators of Steubenville”
“Rape, Steubenville, Social Media: How About Another Sort of Super Bowl Sunday?”
Image of scale of justice from Wikimedia Commons