2 Ohio Teen Football Players Found Guilty Of Rape
By: Melissa Garrett
Updated: March 17, 2013
STEUBENVILLE, Ohio (AP) -- Two members of Steubenville, Ohio's celebrated high school football team are headed to juvenile jail for at least a year.
A judge today found 17-year-old Trent Mays and 16-year-old Ma'Lik Richmond guilty of raping a drunken 16-year-old girl after an alcohol-fueled party last August. Both made emotional apologies to the victim and to the community after the verdict was read. Richmond struggled at times to talk through his sobs.
The case came to light through a barrage of morning-after text messages, social media posts and online photos and video. That's helped stir allegations that more students should have been charged and led to questions about the influence of the football team.
And Ohio's attorney general is warning that the case is far from over. Michael DeWine says he'll convene a grand jury to investigate whether coaches, parents or other students broke the law by refusing to speak up. DeWine says while the community "desperately needs" to have the case behind them, it also "desperately needs to know justice was done and that no stone was left unturned."
A judge today found 17-year-old Trent Mays and 16-year-old Ma'Lik Richmond guilty of raping a drunken 16-year-old girl after an alcohol-fueled party last August. Both made emotional apologies to the victim and to the community after the verdict was read. Richmond struggled at times to talk through his sobs.
The case came to light through a barrage of morning-after text messages, social media posts and online photos and video. That's helped stir allegations that more students should have been charged and led to questions about the influence of the football team.
And Ohio's attorney general is warning that the case is far from over. Michael DeWine says he'll convene a grand jury to investigate whether coaches, parents or other students broke the law by refusing to speak up. DeWine says while the community "desperately needs" to have the case behind them, it also "desperately needs to know justice was done and that no stone was left unturned."
