Ohio city official: Town backs inquiry into rape

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A city reeling from the conviction of two high school football players in the rape of a 16-year-old girl will back an inquiry that could target adults, including coaches, who initially failed to report the allegation, the city's top official said Monday.

Steubenville, Ohio, residents want to see justice done, and the city will be better off because of the investigation, city manager Cathy Davison said.

"Football is important in Steubenville, but I think overall if you looked at the community in and of itself, it's the education process, the moral fiber of our community and the heritage of our community, that is even more important," Davison said.

The announcement of the guilty verdict was barely an hour old Sunday when state Attorney General Mike DeWine said he was continuing his investigation and would consider charges against anyone who failed to speak up after the attack last summer. That could include other teens, parents, school officials and coaches of the football team, which has won nine state championships.

A grand jury will meet in mid-April to consider evidence gathered by investigators.

Text messages introduced at trial suggested the head coach was aware of the rape allegation early on. DeWine said coaches are among officials required by state law to report suspected child abuse.

"I've reached the conclusion that this investigation cannot be completed, simply cannot be completed, that we cannot bring finality to this matter without the convening of a grand jury," DeWine said.

Steubenville schools Superintendent Mike McVey released a statement Monday reiterating his position that the district was waiting until the trial ended to take action. The statement didn't address the grand jury investigation.

Trent Mays, 17, and Ma'Lik Richmond, 16, were sentenced to at least a year in juvenile prison in the case, which led to allegations of a cover-up to protect the Steubenville High School football team. Mays was ordered to serve an additional year for photographing the underage girl naked; they can be held until they turn 21 years old.

They apologized to the victim and the community.

The crime, which took place after a party last summer, shocked many because of the seeming callousness with which other students took out cellphones to record the attack and gossiped about it online. The case came to light via text messages, social media posts and online photos and video.

Mays and Richmond were charged with penetrating the West Virginia girl with their fingers, first in the back seat of a moving car after a mostly underage drinking party Aug. 11, and then in the basement of a house.

Prosecutors argued that the victim was so intoxicated she couldn't consent to sex, while the defense contended she realized what she was doing and was known to lie.

The girl testified she could not recall what happened but woke up naked in a strange house after drinking at a party.

"It was really scary," she said. "I honestly did not know what to think because I could not remember anything."

She said she believed she was assaulted when she later read text messages among friends and saw a photo of herself naked, along with a video that made fun of her and the alleged attack.

Three other boys, two of them on the football team, saw something happening that night and didn't try to stop it but instead recorded it with their cellphones. Granted immunity to testify, they confirmed the girl was assaulted and said she was so drunk she didn't seem to know what was happening.

Evidence at the trial also included sexually explicit text messages sent by numerous students after the party.

In sentencing the boys, Lipps urged parents and others "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."

After the arrests, the case was furiously debated on blogs and social media, with some people warning of conspiracies and conflicts of interest. On Sunday, Hemmeter, the prosecutor, criticized efforts by the hacker collective Anonymous to publicize the case, saying the attention had a chilling effect on those willing to testify.

After the verdict, 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. She added that the case "does not define who my daughter is. She will persevere, grow and move on."

Echoing that, the judge 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."