# I pit the legal community of Steubenville Ohio **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 4, 2013, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-legal-community-of-steubenville-ohio/646016 "2013-01-04T00:20:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-legal-community-of-steubenville-ohio/646016/122 "2013-03-19T03:33:44Z")
> [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > In Ohio, a juvenile rape conviction can never be expunged, so it’ll be on their records forever. So? Are you saying that these boys should not be responsible for their actions? You got a daughter? ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-legal-community-of-steubenville-ohio/646016/123 "2013-03-19T03:59:24Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I’d just like to mention that Fox News, which has declined to broadcast the names of the now-convicted rapists, did apparently feel it was appropriate to [air a statement which identified the victim by name.](http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/03/18/1736351/fox-news-steubenville/) The victim’s name was publicly known a long time ago, so I can’t get too angry over just that. Still, it was fucking classless. And combined with declining to broadcast the names of the rapists, it’s deliberately classless. Screw them. The real shame is that there are a lot of people telling these boys they didn’t do anything really wrong. I can’t see that they or any of the other boys in this town or across the country learned anything except to cover their tracks better. And that’s a damned tragedy. Forget sex offender status. They’ll be virtual heroes among a certain segment of that town and not have to worry about making a living or suffering any residual consequences of their actions. Worse yet, if they aren’t responsible for their actions, their parents and coaches should be responsible for their failure to raise the boys, but few in that town are suggesting they failed, either. And that’s a damned travesty. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-legal-community-of-steubenville-ohio/646016/124 "2013-03-19T04:14:45Z")
Down, Butts. I suspect Drain was more answering panaccione’s question than making any sort of judgment. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-legal-community-of-steubenville-ohio/646016/125 "2013-03-19T05:20:53Z")
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is not taking threats against the victim lightly. [Teenage girls charged with online threats against Ohio rape victim](http://news.yahoo.com/two-teenage-girls-charged-online-threats-against-steubenville-010259955.html;_ylt=AsM.SbRp.MRHRK3N2FRjKLfzWed_;_ylu=X3oDMTVxNjNhdXFsBGNjb2RlA2dtcHRvcDEwMDBwb29sd2lraXVwcmVzdARtaXQDQXJ0aWNsZSBNaXhlZCBMaXN0IE5ld3MgZm9yIFlvdSB3aXRoIE1vcmUgTGluawRwa2cDZjRiNWYzNGYtZTVkNC0zMWJkLTgxYTctMWE3M2Y0MmU3ZWM4BHBvcwMxBHNlYwNuZXdzX2Zvcl95b3UEdmVyAzNmZTA4ZDgwLTkwM2EtMTFlMi1hZmY1LWIxNzhlZmUyOGRjNA--;_ylg=X3oDMTJwazVqYmk3BGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDMzZhZDdiYjEtODg5Yy0zOGFmLWExNmYtZDVkMzcyZWUzNmFjBHBzdGNhdANzcG9ydHMEcHQDc3RvcnlwYWdl;_ylv=3) > [@](#): > > (Reuters) - Two teenage girls were arrested in Ohio on Monday and accused of using social media to threaten the young victim in a high-profile rape trial that concluded this past weekend, state Attorney General Mike DeWine said. > > A 16-year-old girl is charged with aggravated menacing after using Twitter to threaten the life of the victim, DeWine said in a statement. A 15-year-old girl is charged with one count of menacing after making a threat on Facebook, he said. > > The charges came a day after a juvenile court judge found Steubenville High School football players Trent Mays, 17, and Ma’lik Richmond, 16, delinquent in the August 12 sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl at a party while she was in a drunken stupor. > > **“Let me be clear,” DeWine said on Monday in a statement. “Threatening a teenage rape victim will not be tolerated. If anyone makes a threat verbally or via the Internet, we will take it seriously, we will find you, and we will arrest you,” he added.** > > … Good for you Mr. DeWine. He also said that it’s not over yet. > [@](#): > > Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said on Sunday he would seek a grand jury investigation to look deeper into the events surrounding the rape of a 16-year-old girl while she was in a drunken stupor last summer at a party in Steubenville, Ohio. > > … > > DeWine said that while they had conducted an extensive investigation, 16 people, mostly juveniles, had refused to cooperate and they could not bring a finality to it without convening a grand jury. I hope those 16 are shaking in their boots. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-legal-community-of-steubenville-ohio/646016/126 "2013-03-19T05:37:27Z")
Here’s [general overview](http://news.yahoo.com/whos-trouble-next-steubenville-172013836.html;_ylt=Ao7vTss0myAbBEh0NlTZw2.RxLEF;_ylu=X3oDMTVxbW1qbTdqBGNjb2RlA2dtcHRvcDEwMDBwb29sd2lraXVwcmVzdARtaXQDQXJ0aWNsZSBNaXhlZCBMaXN0IE5ld3MgZm9yIFlvdSB3aXRoIE1vcmUgTGluawRwa2cDZjZjNzI0OWMtODczNS0zYmE0LThjZTktMTUwNWNiZDdkY2YwBHBvcwM2BHNlYwNuZXdzX2Zvcl95b3UEdmVyAzViZTdmZjMwLThmZjAtMTFlMi04MmY3LTliMjA0ODcyMGJmNw--;_ylg=X3oDMTJuN2xnMWU5BGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDZjRiNWYzNGYtZTVkNC0zMWJkLTgxYTctMWE3M2Y0MmU3ZWM4BHBzdGNhdAN0ZWNoBHB0A3N0b3J5cGFnZQ--;_ylv=3) of who might be in trouble next. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-legal-community-of-steubenville-ohio/646016/127 "2013-03-19T05:39:56Z")
[This Huffpost story](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/18/steubenville-rape-trial-attorney-general-mike-dewine_n_2899681.html?) suggests they may go after the football coach, who is apparently mandated under state law to report allegations of abuse. In what may be the only amusing part of this whole of this whole ugly story, it was the rapist who told the coach rather than the victim. It doesn’t say so, but it seems the coach didn’t report anything. I wonder if he is one of the 16 not cooperating? ---
**Author:** ![Pixiesnix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Pixiesnix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixiesnix)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-legal-community-of-steubenville-ohio/646016/128 "2013-03-19T06:02:37Z")
I hope they bring the hammer down _hard_ on Coach Saccoccia. Arrogant bastard. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-legal-community-of-steubenville-ohio/646016/129 "2013-03-19T10:38:19Z")
I still don’t understand how these parties were happening so easily. So parents in Stubenville have an August vacation retreat? What’s amazing is how these idiots (the two boys) finally seem to understand their comeuppance. Being told by coaches, teammates, friends and the local yolk all the great things about being a sports star, you’re still supposed to be responsible. You don’t get any free treatment. And they’re crying about their career?? “Oh, who’s gonna want me now?!?” Boo fucking hoo. You raped, you’re caught, you’re being punished. I also love how social media was dissected during this trial. Glad they arrested some who threatened the victim and I hope there’s more to be arrested and charged. These little freaks who have ALL the balls when they post online have to learn that yeah, there’s freedom of speech, but there’s also the aftermath. So what’s the girl gonna do? Although the verdict got the criminals, how the hell can she even leave the house? ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-legal-community-of-steubenville-ohio/646016/130 "2013-03-19T12:59:17Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Down, Butts. > > I suspect Drain was more answering panaccione’s question than making any sort of judgment. Yeah, I see that now. Please ignore me DB. ---
**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-legal-community-of-steubenville-ohio/646016/131 "2013-03-19T13:20:12Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is not taking threats against the victim lightly. DeWine is up for election next year and you can bet that he’s not going to take this situation lightly because he doesn’t need the entire Internet sucking in donations for his competition. That town has a serious old boy network that watches each others’ backs. It will be interesting to see if the coach (who knows where the skeletons are) goes down quietly or not. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-legal-community-of-steubenville-ohio/646016/132 "2013-03-19T13:23:48Z")
> [@Locrian](#): > > I still don’t understand how these parties were happening so easily. So parents in Stubenville have an August vacation retreat? If you were familiar with the place, you wouldn’t wonder. It’s a different world where they worship at the Holy Church of the Gridiron. In that church, it’s the altar boys who do the molesting, and everyone _likes_ it that way. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-legal-community-of-steubenville-ohio/646016/133 "2013-03-19T13:54:27Z")
> [@Locrian](#): > > “Oh, who’s gonna want me now?!?” Boo fucking hoo. You raped, you’re caught, you’re being punished. If history has taught us anything, they can still have a long career with The Steelers. > [@Locrian](#): > > So what’s the girl gonna do? Although the verdict got the criminals, how the hell can she even leave the house? From what I understand, she lives in a neighboring town and attends a different high school. I’m sure it still isn’t easy for her, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of her classmates/neighbors/etc… still blame her for “ruining these young boys lives,” because I’m sure her town has as much Football Culture as Steubenville. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-legal-community-of-steubenville-ohio/646016/134 "2013-03-19T17:50:21Z")
> [@Pixiesnix](#): > > I hope they bring the hammer down _hard_ on Coach Saccoccia. Arrogant bastard. Don’t wait up nights for this one. Might I introduce you to the Pennsylvania State University and the late Coach Joseph Paterno? Yes? Familiar? So, no hammers to bring down. Circle the wagons and humiliate the victims. A playbook tattered in blood and semen. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-legal-community-of-steubenville-ohio/646016/135 "2013-03-19T19:14:58Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I’d just like to mention that Fox News, which has declined to broadcast the names of the now-convicted rapists, did apparently feel it was appropriate to [air a statement which identified the victim by name.](http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/03/18/1736351/fox-news-steubenville/) > > Stay classy, Fox. To be fair, Fox has no monopoly on [contemptible coverage](http://gawker.com/5991003/cnn-reports-on-the-promising-future-of-the-steubenville-rapists-who-are-very-good-students): [QUOTE=Candy Crowley, CNN] 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, literally watched as they believed their lives fell apart… When that sentence came down, [Ma’lik] collapsed in the arms of his attorney… He said to him, “My life is over. No one is going to want me now.” [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Paul Callan, CNN] Sixteen-year-olds just sobbing in court, regardless of what big football players they are, they still sound like sixteen-year-olds…what’s the lasting effect, though, on two young men being found guilty in juvenile court of rape, essentially?" The most severe thing with these young men is being labeled as registered sex offenders. That label is now placed on them by Ohio law… That will haunt them for the rest of their lives. Employers, when looking up their background, will see that they’re registered sex offenders. When they move into a new neighborhood and somebody goes on the Internet, where these things are posted, neighbors will know that they are registered sex offenders. [/QUOTE] Oh, the poor dear boys… :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :smack: :mad: ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-legal-community-of-steubenville-ohio/646016/136 "2013-03-19T19:23:52Z")
CNN, Fox and MSNBC all aired the same audio from the courtroom in which the victim was referred to by name. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-legal-community-of-steubenville-ohio/646016/137 "2013-03-19T19:37:55Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > Don’t wait up nights for this one. Might I introduce you to the Pennsylvania State University and the late Coach Joseph Paterno? Yes? Familiar? > > So, no hammers to bring down. Circle the wagons and humiliate the victims. A playbook tattered in blood and semen. > > :mad: Pretty much. And the scumbags will keep defending the perpetrators and conspirators, no matter what. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-legal-community-of-steubenville-ohio/646016/138 "2013-03-19T19:38:55Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > To be fair, Fox has no monopoly on [contemptible coverage](http://gawker.com/5991003/cnn-reports-on-the-promising-future-of-the-steubenville-rapists-who-are-very-good-students): > > Oh, the poor dear boys… :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :smack: :mad: Fvck CNN. How can they air such shit. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-legal-community-of-steubenville-ohio/646016/139 "2013-03-19T20:26:32Z")
Hopefully, the scum will live in Steubenville and have daughters who can be the victims of the next generation of rapists. Maybe then they can see what the rest of us see. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-legal-community-of-steubenville-ohio/646016/140 "2013-03-19T20:31:46Z")
This is the worst part of the entire mindset: That the abusers marry the abused and reproduce. Their offspring either believe that they had it coming to them or are deserving of raining abuse down upon the abused with impunity. The abused girl becomes the abused wife who not only cannot stop being raped by her husband but mutely stands by as he takes his delights on their small daughter and her friends. Quite a sick cycle. And one that’s utterly true, at least in America. I wonder… Soccer ( football ) is just massive outside of the USA. Are there countries where soccer players rape girls and are protected by their soccer coaches and we just don’t read about it in the USA? Or is this truly an American cycle of abuse? Overseas Dopers?? ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-legal-community-of-steubenville-ohio/646016/141 "2013-03-19T20:33:11Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > Fvck CNN. How can they air such shit. Maybe y’all are reading that differently than I did. I mean, they’re guilty, and they got _some_ of what was coming to them… but this seems like the perspective of what could have been for these boys, and now never will be. The tragic consequences that maybe other boys in similar situations may take notice of? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-legal-community-of-steubenville-ohio/646016.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-legal-community-of-steubenville-ohio/646016.md?page=8)