Steubenville Rape Trial: Alleged victim is now expected to testify
(CBS/AP) Updated 12:05 p.m. - The 16-year-old girl who has accused two Ohio high school football players of sexually assaulting her while she was intoxicated during a night of partying last August is expected to take the stand after a West Virginia judge reversed an earlier ruling, according to attorneys for the accused.
Ma'Lik Richmond, 16, and Trent Mays, 17, are accused of sexually assaulting the 16-year-old girl twice - once in the back seat of a car, and once in a basement - on the night of August 11, 2012.
The alleged victim reportedly has no recollection of the night, but Richmond's attorney Walter Madison told Crimesider that the Ohio judge in the case considered her and two of her friends "material and essential witnesses," and issued subpoenas for them to testify.
The girls live across the river from Steubenville, in West Virginia, and a judge in that state had ruled they need not comply with the subpoenas because they were juveniles and the case is being tried in juvenile court, making it technically a civil, not criminal, case.
On Tuesday, Madison, and the attorney representing Mays, filed to have the case against their clients dismissed, arguing that their due process would be violated if such crucial witnesses were not called to testify. But the West Virginia judge reversed his decision late Tuesday and on Wednesday morning attorneys for Richmond and Mays dropped their motion to dismiss.
Complete coverage of the Steubenville Rape Case on Crimesider
