Sunday two Steubenville, Ohio High School students were found guilty of rape in a case that has caught the attention of the entire nation.
Judge Thomas Lipps found 17-year-old Trent Mays and 16-year-old Ma’lik Richmond guilty of rapping an intoxicated 16-year old girl during a series of summer ending parties last August. Lipps (who actually came out of the retirement after the previous judged recused himself for being connect to the Steubenville football team) called the situation “profane” and “ugly” while one of the defendants cried aloud on a video stream.
The verdict by Judge Lipps was handed down after a very emotional two-and-a-half hour testimony Saturday from the 16-year old victim who recounted a night she barely remembered.
Despite the verdict though there’s still plenty discontent surrounding the case.
Prior to the trial it has been suspected that certain individuals who otherwise would also be put on trial were protected by a town focused on protecting the highly popular high school football team known as the Big Red. These allegations were led by the hacktivist group Anonymous who actually posted videos of individuals on the team bragging about the events in question further suggesting they did nothing to stop it.
Mays and Richmond may have gotten off easy as well.
Instead of being tried as adults, the two were tried as juveniles and will face significantly less time in a detention center.
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Ma’lik Richmond was sentenced to a minimum of one year in the juvenile detention center for the rape charge while Trent Mays will face a minimum of two years in a juvenile detention center. Mays received a tougher punishment because in addition to the rape charge Judge Lipps also found him guilty of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material.
Both Richmond and Mays could face time behind bars in a juvenile detention center until they’re 21. Both will also be on a juvenile sexual offenders list “for the rest of their lives,” Lipps added.
h/t: CNN, The Atlantic Wire, NBC News