Before recent events, the small city of Steubenville, Ohio,
was a name unknown to many. With just 18,000 residents, the former steel town
doesn’t normally make it to national headlines. But that’s all changed since
two of the town’s star football players were charged with the rape of a
sixteen-year-old girl.
Trenton Mays and Ma’lik Richmond, both 16, go to trial in
juvenile court in February for the rape of a teenage girl last August. A video
and numerous photos were posted of the girl, naked and clearly very drunk or
drugged. On the video, the two boys can be heard laughing and making disturbing
remarks about her having been raped and looking dead.
The video and pictures were taken down soon after they were
originally posted, but last week the infamous group of hackers known as
“Anonymous” re-posted the video, which has since gone viral. Comments and tags
on the videos, messages, and photographs originally published repeatedly used
the words “rape” and “drunk girl,” some even suggesting that she was also
urinated on.
So far, an investigation by police has determined that the
young woman in question had so much to drink, or was drugged to the point that
she can’t remember what happened after midnight the night the videos and photos
were taken. Medical examinations were taken more than a day after the event,
but did not find evidence of rape. And none of the posted media recovered by
police has yielded images of a sexual act taking place.
Tensions are so high now in the small town that guards were
posted to school buildings on Tuesday after threats took place. The girl’s
family has also faced threats and police have begun patrolling their
neighborhood more frequently. The boys remain under house arrest and their
families are maintaining the claim that they are innocent.
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