Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine to look into more Steubenville charges
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, right, answers questions about the successful prosecution of two juveniles in a rape case during a news conference Sunday, March 17, 2013, at the Jefferson County Justice Center in Steubenville, Ohio. Prosecutor Brian Deckert and Prosecutor Marianne Hemmeter joined DeWine. / AP Photo
STEUBENVILLE, OhioThe Steubenville, Ohio rape case in part gained global interest based on one photograph widely circulated online: An apparently semi-conscious girl being carried by two football players out of a party.
The accuser said that she does not remember being photographed as she was carried by Trent Mays and Ma'Lik Richmond, an image that stirred up outrage, first locally, then globally, as it spread online. Others testified at the trial of Mays and Richmond that the photo was a joke and the girl was conscious when it was taken.
Guilty verdicts in Ohio rape case
Steubenville rape case: Trent Mays, Ma'lik Richmond apologize to court
Steubenville Rape Trial
So far, those two are the only ones to even face charges, but that soon may change, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said Sunday after Mays and Richmond were found guilty of raping the 16-year-old.
After Mays and Richmond were taken into custody, Attorney General DeWine said he planned to convene a grand jury next month to investigate whether anyone else should be charged in the case.
"We've gathered a lot of evidence, but we cannot put this to bed. We cannot bring finality to this without the convening of the grand jury," DeWine said, according to CBS affiliate WBNS in Columbus.
Noting that 16 people refused to talk to investigators, many of them underage, DeWine said possible crimes to be investigated include failure to report a felony and failure to report child abuse.
"This community desperately needs to have this behind them, but this community also desperately needs to know justice was done and that no stone was left unturned," he said.
The infamous photograph has led to allegations that three other boys, two of them members of Steubenville High's celebrated Big Red team, saw something happening that night and didn't try to stop it but instead recorded it themselves.
None of them were charged, fueling months of online accusations of a cover-up to protect the team, which law enforcement authorities have vehemently denied.
Instead, the teens were granted immunity to testify, and their accounts helped incriminate the defendants. They said the girl was so drunk she didn't seem to know what was happening to her and confirmed she was assaulted.
The case roiled the community amid allegations that more students should have been charged — accusations that Ohio's attorney general pledged to look into — and led to questions from a much wider audience online about the influence of the local football team, a source of a pride in a community of 18,000 that suffered massive job losses with the collapse of the steel industry.
Protesters who sought guilty verdicts stood outside the courthouse Sunday morning, their arms linked, some wearing masks. Later, prosecutor Marianne Hemmeter criticized the efforts by the hacker collective Anonymous to publicize the case, saying the extra attention led to a chilling effect on those willing to testify.
The trial opened last week as a contest between prosecutors determined to show the girl was so drunk she couldn't have been a willing participant that night, and defense attorneys soliciting testimony from witnesses that would indicate that the girl, though drunk, knew what she was doing.
The teenage girl testified Saturday that she could not recall what happened the night of the attack but remembered waking up naked in a strange house after drinking at a party. The girl said she recalled drinking, leaving the party holding hands with Mays and throwing up later. When she woke up, she said she discovered her phone, earrings, shoes and underwear were missing, she testified.
"It was really scary," she said. "I honestly did not know what to think because I could not remember anything."
The girl said she believed she was assaulted when she later read text messages among friends and saw a photo of herself taken that night, along with a video that made fun of her and the alleged attack. She said she suspected she had been drugged because she couldn't explain being as intoxicated as defense witnesses have said she was.
"They treated her like a toy," said special prosecutor Marianne Hemmeter.
Evidence introduced at the trial included graphic text messages sent by numerous students after the night of the party, including by the accuser, containing provocative descriptions of sex acts and obscene language. Lawyers noted during the trial how texts have seemed to replace talking on the phone for contemporary teens. A computer forensic expert called by the state documented tens of thousands of texts found on 17 phones seized during the investigation.
In sentencing the boys, Judge Thomas Lipps urged everyone who had witnessed what happened in the case, including parents, "to have discussions about how you talk to your friends, how you record things on the social media so prevalent today and how you conduct yourself when drinking is put upon you by your friends."
The girl herself recalled being in a car later with Mays and Richmond and asking them what happened.
"They kept telling me I was a hassle and they took care of me," she testified. "I thought I could trust him (Mays) until I saw the pictures and video."
In questioning her account, defense attorneys went after her character and credibility. Two former friends of the girl testified that the accuser she was drinking heavily that night, had a history of doing so and was known to lie.
"The reality is, she drank, she has a reputation for telling lies," said lawyer Walter Madison, representing Richmond.
Mays and Richmond were determined to be delinquent, the juvenile equivalent of guilty, Lipps ruled in the juvenile court trial without a jury.
The length of their sentence beyond the minimum one year will be determined by juvenile authorities; they can be held until they're 21. Lipps said that "as bad as things have been for all of the children involved in this case, they can all change their lives for the better."
The accuser's mother echoed that, saying the case "does not define who my daughter is. She will persevere, grow and move on."
After the trial which saw the Mays and Richmond found guilty of raping the girl, the accuser's mother rebuked the boys for "lack of any moral code."
"You were your own accuser, through the social media that you chose to publish your criminal conduct on," she said.
The two teens broke down in tears after the verdict was read and later apologized to the victim. Both were emotional as they spoke, and Richmond began sobbing so heavily that he bent over and had to be helped back to his seat. Richmond's father, Nathaniel, also asked that the victim's family "forgive Malik and Trent for the pain they put you through."
Mays, 17, and Richmond, 16, were charged with digitally penetrating the West Virginia girl, first in the back seat of a moving car after an alcohol-fueled party on Aug. 11, and then in the basement of a house.
Popular on CBSNews.com
- Children rescued from two elementary schools in Oklahoma 19 Photos
- Tornado's destructive path 17 Photos
- Oklahoma tornado recovery grinds on amid grim scenes
- More severe weather expected after monster tornado
- Oklahoma tornado victim search efforts winding down
- Deadliest U.S. tornadoes 10 Photos
- Up-close video of Moore, Okla., tornado Play Video
- Oklahoma tornado as seen by storm chasers Play Video
I want the football coaches and parents who tried to coverup this rape in jail too... I hope the world learns from the evil potential of unsupervised use of social media by children and the idiot red neck parents in the hills of Ohio's Appalachia..
You know! The party of "legitimate rape," the party that says babies conceived from rape are "gifts from God," and the party reluctant to pass the Violence Against Women Act.
I think America is prepared for your "rebranding" efforts. Hahahaha!
Spin, again!
____________________________________________
displeased2 replies: linkicon reporticon emailicon I'm a democrat and I don't side with the rapists. In fact, that little blurb you posted about the CNN anchor is disgusting. Is the siding of this case really a democrat vs a republican thing, or are you just obsessed with political affiliations
_____________________________________
Big Bird - You know I ain't a Republican - nor am I a supporter of the Sodomite, illegal alien, innocent unborn murdering, God hating, takers of the Democrat Party as well
"displeased" - look at what Democratic state judges (ie CO and HI) give as mandatory punishment to child sex offenders
Why do Democrats hate children so much?? slaughtering Thousands and Thousands of the innocent unborn and always siding with rapists and pedophiles? If this would have happened in CO or HI - the rapists would have probably just got suspension...
-----------------------------------
The GOP need to be careful that the "Developing" and Third World mentality of women does not infiltrate back into the States. We have a bubbling misogynistic attitude just at the political surface we need to rein in.
1. Missouri Congressman Todd Akin, a conservative Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, said in an interview broadcast Sunday that women's bodies can prevent pregnancies in the case of "a legitimate rape," adding that conception in such cases is rare.
2. Mike Huckabee: Rapes create 'extraordinary' people | Mail Online
www.dailymail.co.uk/.../Mike-Huckabee-Rapes-create-extraordinary-...3 hours ago - ... presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has said 'forcible rape' creates 'extraordinary' people as he defends Rep. Todd Akin's rape comments.
3. October, 2012 A Wisconsin state representative is drawing heat for saying that his father had told him when he was young that "some girls rape easy" as a way to warn him that a woman could agree to sex but then later claim that it wasn't consensual.
Freshman Wisconsin Rep. Roger Rivard (R-Rice Lake) in December discussed a case with the Chetek Alert newspaper in which a 17-year-old high school senior was charged with sexual assault for having sex with an underage girl in the school's band room.
4. Sharron Angle, who ran for a US Senate seat out of Nevada, said she would tell a young girl wanting an abortion after being raped and impregnated by her father that "two wrongs don't make a right" and that she should make a "lemon situation into lemonade".
5. Douglas Henry, a Tennessee state senator, told his colleagues: "Rape, ladies and gentlemen, is not today what rape was. Rape, when I was learning these things, was the violation of a chaste woman, against her will, by some party not her spouse."
Most bizarre is from a woman:
6. Republican activist Phyllis Schlafly declared that marital rape doesn't exist, because when you get married you sign up to be sexually available to your husband at all times.
Until the IRS stops taking my money as an American and when the GOP takes away my right ot vote then I'm gonna keep going one bugging the crap out you with my FACTS.
Anyway, to avoid all possible trouble, sobbing, crying, and pessimistic remarks such as "my life is over," every male teen should ponder before doing any sex thing to a female teen, "will I do this to her if she is my mother or sister?"
No mention of the boys????
Are we not suddenly going to copy the Taliban and Pakistan and gang rape girls and women who are drunk?
If she had not enticed them and got drunk herself then maybe nothing would have happened to her.
It's really all her fault.
___________________________________________
Why do Democrats hate children so much?? slaughtering Thousands and Thousands of the innocent unborn and always siding with rapists and pedophiles? If this would have happened in CO or HI - the rapists would have probably just got suspension...
You rape one of my daughters or grand daughters - you best pray they put you in jail a long time before I find you -- and I would...
It is for the most part the conservatives and Tea Baggers who are condemning the girl and trying to excuse the actions of the boys.
All you have to do is read the typical posts from the usual suspects:
POURPAIXPOURPAIX says:It's not right to blame a victim, but when girls and guys go drinking and have sex there is no victim, unless the guys are accused of rape as the result. I feel sorry for the real victims, which are the guys. It's real nice the feminists feel the definition of rape is best left to the whim of a woman. That's a very dangerous situation, for we are seeing that the inequalities of idiot feminist legislation like VAWA is resulting in increased violence against women. What do you expect? Every man will just allow himself to be persecuted and have his life ruined because a woman thinks she should have rights at the man's expense?
The one and only acceptable result of this trial is to throw both boys and the girl in jail for underage drinking. Age of consent in Ohio is 16, so unless there's evidence the boys drugged the girl or otherwise forced sex after the girl refused to comply, the only punishable sex crime is the boy who disseminated nude photos of a known minor.
Since these absolutely ridiculous womans' "prerogatives" continue, men need to start being smarter. If a woman gets drunk at your party, kick her out in the street, or if a little princess walks through the door. If a woman applies for employment, find an excuse to choose a man candidate, instead. When I take over a department with women working in it, they are gone within a fortnight. There's just no reason to put up with the ticking time bombs. And most of all, if you need a wife, marry a foreigner and hope she doesn't fall under the spell of the megalomaniacs that use feminist rights to take over the world.
MILITARYRETIREE says:I think that the "victim" was fully aware of what was happening and was a willing participant. After the news of the seduction hit the social media, she then decided she'd been "raped". Must be some money ahead somewhere for her.
patter123
This is a case of a drunken **** asking for it and two drunken boys who stuck their fingers in her.
Ground them all for a year, throw the boys off the team, and get over it.
And tell those boys to wash their hands with Clorox.
by TeamClinton March 17, 2013 12:00 PM EDT
A statement to all, especially women, "If you play with fire by fanning your buns on it, please expect and learn to live with getting some burns!"
AUGUST100 replies: TRAMP
BAILEYCCCC says:Great, Ohio has a nobody Attorney General, who wants to make a name for himself to run for higher office. These kids should walk, the 16 year old female must bear her responsibility.
ULGNUD says:Oddly enough it wasn't even really a rape. The boys members weren't even in her. Serious assault, yes. I hope she gets charged for her illegal use of alcohol being a minor. I'm sure all the "Bra Burners" will get all wound up but facts are facts.
BLUDAPFEL replies: Oh, the horror. The put their fingers inside.
The world is going to come to and end because of that.
If they had both penetrated her with their members and had *** inside her, then, left her for dead on the side of the road with broken bones and a black eye then that might be rape - but only then if she said "No."
Putting fingers inside? That's foreplay. I guess "rape" happens billions of times every day then.
You know! The party of "legitimate rape," the party that says babies conceived from rape are "gifts from God," and the party reluctant to pass the Violence Against Women Act.
I think America is prepared for your "rebranding" efforts. Hahahaha!
Spin, again!