It was a Saturday night in Steubenville, Ohio. Trent Mays, 17, Ma’lik Richmond, 16, a 16-year-old girl and many other under-age youths were drinking the night away.
Media personalities, such as CNN anchor Candy Crowley, spent so much time taking pity on Trent Mays and Ma’lik Richmond and what their crime and conviction has done to their lives while paying little lip service to the victim. CNN’s coverage, in particularly Crowley and correspondent Poppy Harlow, has come under fire viewers who launched a petition demanding an apology from the network. | Wikimedia Commons
Mays, Richmond and the girl attended three parties the night of Aug. 12, two of which she had no recollection of being at the next morning. During the course of the last two parties, she was reported to have been vomiting and intensely inebriated. Compromising photos were taken of Mays and Richmond lifting her — Mays with her arms and Richmond with her feet — out of the house. During a drive to the third house party, Mays asked another friend to take a video of him penetrating an unresponsive victim with his fingers. According to Ohio state law, Mays had just committed rape. At the third party, a witness reports that he walked into the basement of the party to see Mays and Richmond kneeled over a naked and unmoving victim while penetrating her with their fingers. Mays then is said to have taken multiple nude pictures of her while she was unconscious and exposed.
During the next few days, teenagers were tweeting, texting and posting photos and videos on Instagram of her before and during the raping while using such words as “whore” and “slut” and saying she was asking for it.
The risk the victim took during these parties put her in a very compromising position. Her mother and she took the photographic evidence to the police during the leakage of these humiliating and degrading photos to press charges against Mays and Richmond for rape and distribution of exposing photos.
People’s reactions after hearing that these two young men were star football players changed everything. Instead of just presenting the young men as violators, the media paid attention to the personal lives of Mays and Richmond. Instead of portraying them as young men who took advantage of a girl who was too drunk to consent while also aiding in the distribution of naked photos — which could also be construed as child pornography — Mays and Richmond are portrayed as smart, likeable football stars who could even be considered role models. The media consistently focused on their promising futures instead of the emotional, mental and physical damage they inflicted on the victim.
On March 17, Mays and Richmond were found guilty and sentenced to juvenile detention. Mays will serve two years for rape and distribution of naked photos, while Richmond will serve one year for rape. Both will register as sex offenders. Reporters at the scene told news anchors the verdict and what that would mean.
“It was incredibly emotional, incredibly difficult even for an outsider like me to watch what happened as these two young men that had such promising futures — star football players, very good students. We literally watched as they believed their life fell apart,” said CNN reporter Poppy Harlow.
CNN’s Candy Crowley described how painful it was to witness Richmond break down in tears after he apologized to the victim’s mother and her in court, and after all that, Crowley said it must be hard for the victims also.
Doe’s attorney, Bob Fitzsimmons, said watching Mays’ and Richmond’s reactions to the verdict was hard and that he can feel for them.
Though this confession is nothing compared to the waves of support the young men received from parts of the community and the Internet, it is still unsettling to hear from the prosecutor’s attorney.
Since a large amount of evidence for this case was gathered from social media sites, there has been more focus on filtering what we place on the Internet rather than how the victim is holding up. The emotional toll rape can have on a victim is massive, but because this trail was so public and visual with videos and images, the effect on the victim can sometimes be more detrimental.
The blatant disrespect for another human being and the lack of morals in this case is astounding. Some members of the public attempt to make this case one of appearances, and focus is turned to the kind of people Mays and Richmond appear to be to the public and the fans that watch them play every Friday. Those who are sympathizing with the two young men need to realize that either drunk or sober, they should have realized that if the girl is unable to consent to a sexual act, it’s rape.
“By the time you’re 16 and 17 years old, you know what’s right and wrong, and watching a gang rape happen while the girl is passed out is not okay. It’s like watching someone get hit by a car and not calling an ambulance,” biology junior Iyaesha Simmons said.
One can only hope that the future will be a time where the fear of something like this happening to you or to someone you know is obsolete.
Kelly Schafler is a print journalism sophomore and may be reached at opinion@thedailycougar.com.