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Showing Original Post only (View all)Rape, Lawsuits, Anonymous Leaks: What's Going On in Steubenville, Ohio? (good summary) [View all]
Brought to national attention last month by an excellent piece in the New York Times, the unfolding rape case in Steubenville, Ohio is a mess. At first, it seemed like a straightforward instance of acquaintance rape, perhaps a little more brutal than most but sadly of the kind that happens on a daily basis in this country: Two young men, both on the Steubenville High School football team, discovered an extremely drunk 16-year-old girl at a party and allegedly carried her around with them all night as their own personal rape toy, repeatedly sexually assaulting her. The alleged rapists, Trent Mays and Ma'lik Richmond, have been charged and are awaiting trial. In the meantime, the case has grown complex, with allegations of cover-ups and corruption and hacktivist group Anonymous now getting involved. I have thoughts on the Anonymous role, but first, here's a rundown of where the story stands now.
The alleged crime: Witnesses, some also on the football team, testified at a probable cause hearing that Mays and Richmond spent most of the night of Aug. 11 standing over, directing, transporting, and otherwise controlling the blacked-out drunk victim, who they carried to three separate parties. According to the New York Times, witnesses claim that Mays and Richmond tried to coerce the victim into oral sex, exposed her naked body as a joke to other partygoers, penetrated her digitally, and exposed themselves to her. Other Steubenville students on Twitter and YouTube say they witnessed even worse violations, including urinating on the victim and anal rape, though these are not official statements. (And sadly, these students were more delighted than upset by what they allegedly saw.) While it appears that multiple students taped and photographed the alleged assault, officials claim they haven't been able to turn up much in the way of evidence, because the evidence has been deleted.
The local reaction: Even though, as the New York Times discovered, many members of the community and especially the football coach have been extremely defensive about the alleged rape and fallout, at least one former Steubenville resident decided to speak up. Alexandria Goddard has used her crime blog Prinnified to air the dissenting local opinion that this case is just another example of how the special status of the football program protects players from having to take full responsibility for their actions. Of particular outrage to Goddard is the fact that many other players besides Mays and Richmond appeared to have participated in the alleged assault to some extent, taking pictures and videos, but aren't facing any legal repercussions. Early to cover the case, Goddard has backed this claim up by posting screenshots of now-deleted photos and videos of the night. She was sued for defamation by student Cody Saltsman, who left an ugly online history celebrating the alleged assault, including a photo on Instagram of the alleged victim being tossed about by her alleged assailants. The case was dismissed with prejudice in late December, and Saltsman publicly apologized to the victim and her family for his online actions.
Anonymous gets involved: Convinced that the case isn't being taken seriously enough by the community or the justice system, online activists under the banner of Anonymous have now started a local leaks page to release information gathered on people they believe are involved in covering up the full extent of the alleged assault. They've organized "Operation Roll Red Roll" to hack the private information of people they think have been involved in the crime and/or what they deem to be the cover-up, and started dumping incriminating info online Jan. 1. They've also organized at least one protest demanding that the football coach lose his job.
More:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2013/01/03/steubenville_ohio_rape_anonymous_gets_involved_and_the_case_gets_even_more.html
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Rape, Lawsuits, Anonymous Leaks: What's Going On in Steubenville, Ohio? (good summary) [View all]
cali
Jan 2013
OP
Have you had a chance to see some of the video? It is disturbing for sure. That girl was
southernyankeebelle
Jan 2013
#8
That is terrible. I would tell girls to go in groups of friends you can really trust and you
southernyankeebelle
Jan 2013
#13
Important information that seems to be missing from most reporting of all of this. nt.
polly7
Jan 2013
#18
This happened many times at several colleges also. If you're partying with jocks or frat boys
kerry-is-my-prez
Jan 2013
#19
I remember one time going to a party with my twin. We were 19 yrs old. We went to a neighbors
southernyankeebelle
Jan 2013
#20
Gee, I never did. He didn't have a chance to do anything because I came in and told him
southernyankeebelle
Jan 2013
#37
Oh am with you about boys for sure. I told my son if he all the things you would tell your
southernyankeebelle
Jan 2013
#38
when addressing we always show the numbers without much thought. boomers. 20 yr olds aged
seabeyond
Jan 2013
#39
And yet the sociological crime models predicted a wave of "super criminals" in the 1990's
Fumesucker
Jan 2013
#41
my boys and i were talking about this the other day. i am gonna think about it.
seabeyond
Jan 2013
#43
Am I to understand that this rape was premeditated as well? That it was planned she was drugged
Earth_First
Jan 2013
#14
I'm not an attorney, but this case has 'criminal conspiracy' written all over it to my untutored
coalition_unwilling
Jan 2013
#22
from what i read, may spent a couple weeks trying to convince her that he wanted to date.
seabeyond
Jan 2013
#40