Teenage girl 'raped and humiliated by two Ohio footballers was photographed on all fours, partially naked, with accused standing behind her with his pants down', court told

By Laura Collins In Steubenville, Ohio

PUBLISHED: 18:39 EST, 13 March 2013 | UPDATED: 18:55 EST, 13 March 2013

The teenage girl who was allegedly raped by two Ohio footballers was photographed on all fours, head down, partially naked with one of the accused standing pants down behind her, a court heard today.

On the first day of the trial into Steubenville footballers Trent Mays, 16, and Ma'lik Richmond, 17, the picture that prompted a friend of the accused to mockingly describe the alleged victim as ‘so dead’ was described in graphic detail.

It shows the teenager in the compromising position with Mays behind her with Richmond also in view. It was later deleted by the partygoer who took it, but described in court today by others who were shown it.

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Judgement: Alleged rapists Trent Mays, left, and Ma'lik Richmond at the Jefferson County courthouse, Steubenville where a witness told the trial the girl was 'somebody too impaired to say no'

Denial: Trent Mays' lawyer told the court he 'did not rape the young lady in question' but the prosecutor said they pair 'treated her like a toy'

According to the State it was taken at the peak of a night in which a drunken girl was ‘treated like a toy’ by the pair during a night of ‘degradation, humiliation and violation.’ 

The case as set out by Assistant State Attorney for Ohio Marianne Hemmeter does not hinge on consent or force but on substantial intoxication and the accuseds’ exploitation of that. 

Part of that degradation was in the was in which such images were spread over social media.

Speaking outside the courtroom Mays’s defence attorney Adam Lee Neeman dismissed the the photograph saying: ‘If that is her then it appears to me it was consensual sex.’

His colleague Mr Brian Duncan added: ‘We have no proof that this photo ever existed.’

All that remains of that picture is the description given in court today by a witness, and friend of the accused, who was shown it in the early hours of 12 August last year along with several other athletes partying that night.

The high school student who took the picture, a former boyfriend of the girl, deleted it from his phone before police could seize it. 

Rape Me: The case reached national attention after tweets and video footage emerged from the night

Sickening: This video of Michael Nodianos laughing and joking at what was happening to the girl provoked disgust and was allegedly in response to the picture of the girl lying on all fours

Trial by social media: The case has convulsed the small bluecollar Ohio town since the word 'rape' first fluttered in texts and tweets between partygoers the morning after the alleged attack took place

Mike Nodianos, whose vile rant lost him his college place, has since publicly apologized for his actions.

Social media, instagrams and online posts have been central to the case against Mays and Richmond. In the absence of the alleged victim’s own memory of events they have played a huge part in piecing together what happened.

But at the close of the first day of the trial expected to last until the weekend the defence brought material evidence too.

DNA from sperm found on the blanket on which the victim slept on that night of the incident matches Mays.

In her opening statement Ms Hemmeter described her client as,‘Somebody too impaired to say no, somebody who was too impaired to say stop.' 

Describing the case that has convulsed this bluecollar town since the word ‘rape’ first fluttered in texts, tweets and Instagram posts between partygoers on the night the incident allegedly took place, Ms Hemmeter said it was ‘direct and simple.’

Yet already two very conflicting pictures of the night have emerged.

Divided: the picture, left, posted of the alleged victim being carried like an animal has come to define the case which has sparked protests and outrage in the small town

The prosecution contend that the victim was singled-out, violated and exploited by the accused after a night of drinking slushies spiked with Vanilla vodka and beer.

The defense argue that she was making her own choices, refusing the assistance and guidance of friends and choosing, insisting, that she ‘wanted to go with Ma’lik and Trent.’ 

Much was made of the truth bethind the now infamous Instagram image of the the ‘victim’ hanging limp between Mays and Richmond as one holds her wrists, the other her feet.

A witness to the moment the image was taken revealed how the accused trod on the 16-year-old girl’s hair as her head lolled lifelessly back. 

Breaking down in tears she recalled: ‘I picked her hair up and I told them they needed to carry her a better way.’

The ‘victim’ made no sound or objection as Mays then hoisted her over his shoulder in a fireman’s lift.

But under cross examination that same witness concluded that the ‘victim’ was ‘capable and conscious and making her own decisions.’

In a powerful courtroom performance, Richmond's attorney Walter Madison cross examined the prosecution’s witnesses in an effort to show just how much their own memories depended on ‘joining the dots’ as the night in question and the days that followed were a blur of parties and online chatter.

'Violated': The pair are accused of digitally penetrating the girl in the back of a car and in the basement of a house

Star players: Mays is Big Red's quarterback and Richmond is the wide receiver for the team

 

Steubenville rape trial begins

At one point when asked a direct question and asked if he was ‘sure’ of his response one witness, a baseball player and host of the second party of the night said: ‘I’m not going to say anything “for sure” because you guys are just going to turn it around on me.’

Mays and Richmond are accused of assaulting the girl in a basement and in a car by using their hands during a night out to celebrate a victory on August 12 last year. Mays also is charged with illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material.

Hemmeter claimed that Mays and Richmond held the girl's hair as she vomited in the street. Somebody had removed her shirt to clean up the vomit leaving her in only her bra.

Hemmeter went on to say: 'You will hear witnesses testify that they saw Trent Mays try to put his penis in her mouth, but because her mouth wouldn't open, he abandoned that attempt.'

She added that over the next few days witnesses will testify that they saw Richmond inserting his fingers into her while she was motionless on a basement couch.

Speaking to Judge Lipps at the Jefferson County court, Ms Hemmeter said: ‘You have to piece all this together much in the same way as [the victim] had to piece this together.’

Suspect: Ma'lik Richmond, one of two Ohio high school football players accused of raping an inebriated 16-year-old girl, claimed in a TV interview yesterdy that the alleged victim was 'coming on' to him

The friend who drove to collect the girl from the house where the incident took place and where she spent that night remembered: ‘She looked like a mess. Her hair was a mess. Her shirt was inside out and had marks on it.’

Mays and Richmond came with the girl as her friend took them to another house. When they left the car she asked what had happened only for her friend to reply was ‘I don’t know,’ before she lay across the back seat weeping.

Yet, as the defense pointed out, this striking detail is nowhere on the witness’ police statement made just days after the crime was reported last August. 

The two teens sat together and flanked by their attorneys at the defendant's table wearing suits and ties.

Mays' lawyer Brian Duncan said in an opening statement: 'Trent Mays did not rape the young lady in question'. Richmond'slawyer did not comment. If convicted, Mays and Richmond could be held in a juvenile jail until they turn 21. They have denied any wrongdoing.

It was August 12. The day before Steubenville High's much lauded 'Big Red' Football team had won a mid season scrimmage. Quarterback Mays, 17, and wide receiver Richmond, 16, stood out for the star athletes that they were.

Trial: Richmond (left) and 17-year-old Trent Mays (right) are facing a juvenile judge in court on Wednesday on charges of rape stemming from the incident on Aug. 11, 2012

Ma'lik talks to his lawyer, Walter Madison, who will argue that the alleged victim did not 'affirmatively say no' to sexual contact

The mood was high. The footballers wanted a party and so texts were sent, a plan made and, on 11 August, a night of three back to back house parties began.

Mays tweeted, ‘Huge party!! Banger!!!’ urging others to come. Girls came from Steubenville and from Weirton, across the river n West Virginia. By early evening close to 50 people had arrived at an assistant coach’s house clutching beer, vodka, whiskey and rum. 

What followed is a tawdry tale, according to accounts and court documents made public before the start of today's trial. 

But what has separated this case from so many so similar stories is the role that social media played both on the night and in the days, weeks and months that followed.

Tweets, blogs, Instagrams and online videos became weapons of assault and swords of justice wielded by self-appointed avenging angels.

Big Red: The town's football team has a huge following among its 18,000 inhabitants

She was held up to ridicule physically and subsequently online by braying footballers. The witnesses at the probable cause hearing last October described in horrific detail the unravelling of the night at which she ended up entirely naked, vomiting and vulnerable in a basement.

There she was allegedly subjected to a series of humiliating sexual acts by one of the accused while the other digitally penetrated her, a repeat of behaviourthat allegedly took place in the back of a car on the way to the third party of the night when, of the five passengers, she was the solitary girl. 

A third youth – not facing charges – filmed her while one of the accused allegedly pulled up her top, exposing her breasts before violating her.

When asked to explain his behavior the boy later claimed he thought the girl might want to know what had gone on. But he deleted the footage before ever showing it to her – an act that proved the only thing that stood between him and charges.

Later Steubenville police chief William McCafferty admitted, ‘The thing I found most disturbing about this is that there were other people around when this was going on.

‘Nobody had the morals to say, ‘Hey, stop it, that isn’t right.’

The alleged crime itself was only discovered when the ‘victim's’ mother was messaged a picture of her daughter from that night. 

Speaking after the probably cause hearing she said: ‘How would you like to go through that as a mother, seeing your daughter, who is your entire world, treated like that?

‘It was devastating for all of us.’

Protest: Activists from hacking group Anonymous have been behind many revelations surrounding that night and the subsequent protests

Today in court police sergeant Mark Taylor told how he had downloaded images from the mother’s cell to avoid her deleting them. ‘She came in and she had some stuff on her phone she wanted to get rid of. I mean she REALLY wanted it gone. 

‘I downloaded it and put it on a CD.’ 

Asked to detail the material he answered in general terms: tweets, screen grabs, texts. Sent from an unknown source none were the subject of further analysis.

The girl herself had slept on the sofa of the basement where the alleged crimes took place. It was two days later, at 1.38am on August 14, that parents walked into Steubenville Police Station. 

Though the court heard that one picture exists of the ‘victim’ naked, on her side with what appears to be semen on her stomach, she had showered at least once in the interim and it was too late to run toxicology tests to rule out the use of Rohypnol or a similar substance.

On 22 August, ten days after the alleged assaults, Richmond and Mays were charged with rape.

Mays also faces charges of disseminating pictures of a nude minor because images of the ‘victim’ – or the accuser as the defense would rather know her – were found to have been sent from his phone.