ADDS FATHER'S NAME - Trent Mays, 17, left, gets a hug from his father, Brian Mays, after Trent and co-defendant Ma'lik Richmond, 16, were found delinquent on rape and other charges after their trial in juvenile court in Steubenville, Ohio, Sunday, March 17, 2013. Mays and Richmond were accused of raping a 16-year-old West Virginia girl in August 2012. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, Pool)
STEUBENVILLE, Ohio ? Two high school football players were convicted Sunday of raping a drunken 16-year-old girl at an all-night party.
Judge Thomas Lipps announced his verdict after reviewing evidence from the four-day trial.
The case attracted international attention because the charges were brought after students talked about the incident in a YouTube video and texted naked photos of the girl to each other.
Trent Mays, 17, was sentenced to a minimum of two years in juvenile detention, with the maximum sentence being until he reaches the age of 21. Ma?lik Richmond, 16, was sentenced to a minimum of one year.
Richmond wept openly after the verdict was announced. After the sentencing, both teens apologized to the victim, who was from a nearby West Virginia town, and the community.
Mays received the extra year for a charge of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material. He apologized for taking the photo of the girl, posted online, that brought the case into the public eye.
About 30 protesters against violence directed at women applauded and cheered outside the courthouse when the verdict was announced.
Both teens maintain their innocence. The accuser took the stand Saturday and testified that she could not recall what happened the night of the attack before waking up naked in a strange house.
The alleged victim said she drank a mixed drink, spiked punch and a shot before leaving the party with Mays, WKYC in Cleveland reports. The girl said she suspects she was drugged because of how intoxicated she became that night.
"I remember walking down the steps and in the street. That was it," she said.
story continues below
The prosecution says Mays and Richmond sexually assaulted the intoxicated girl in the back of a car, and then in the basement of a house where she later awoke, naked. She testified she could not find her cellphone, earrings, shoes or underwear.
"It was really scary," she testified. "I was embarrassed and scared. I didn?t know what to think. I couldn?t remember. I woke up with no clothes on. I didn?t know what happened at all."
The girl said she did not learn of the alleged assault until she saw a photo from that night and a friend gave her the link to a video posted on YouTube in which a student joked about the assault.
When the accuser was shown a nude photo of herself that students had shared through text messages, she broke down and cried on the stand.
She testified she did not remember being photographed as Mays and Richmond carried her, in an image that was widely circulated on social media sites.
Gionna Anile, a former friend of the alleged victim, testified she tried to stop the girl from leaving the party with Mays and Richmond.
Anile testified she picked up the alleged victim the next morning where she found her lying on a couch in the basement of a Steubenville student?s home, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.
The alleged victim did not seem upset, Anile said, and was primarily concerned with finding her cellphone.
Anile asked the girl what happened the night before.
"We didn?t have sex, I swear," the alleged victim said at first, according to Anile. But soon after that the girl said she didn?t remember what happened.
Next Page >Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/world/56019311-68/girl-alleged-mays-happened.html.csp
Butterball mashed potatoes Apple Black Friday how to cook a turkey emma stone Frys tryptophan
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.