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Subscribe to RSSOhio officials deny they tried to cover up a crime to protect high school football players. NBC's Brian Mooar reports.
A teenager shown crudely joking in a video about an alleged rape and kidnapping in Steubenville, Ohio, wasn't present during the incidents and isn't under investigation in the case, his attorney said Monday.
The video was briefly posted in August, and a version resurfaced last week, renewing national attention on the case, in which two members of the Steubenville High School football team face a joint trial beginning Feb. 13 on rape charges.
Police say they raped a 16-year-old girl and kidnapped her by taking her to several parties while she was too drunk to resist; the football players' attorneys have denied the charges, contending that the girl was conscious and able to consent.
In the video, the young man repeatedly refers to the accuser as "dead" and compares her to famous dead people. The word "rape" is used several times.
Dennis McNamara of Columbus, Ohio, the attorney for the young man in the video, described it as "disgusting" and "insensitive," but he said the young man wasn't responsible for having posted it online. The version of the video that was posted last week included a picture of the alleged victim, which McNamara said wasn't in the original and that his client didn't add.
Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla has confirmed that the video was shot at a different location from where the incidents occurred, and McNamara said the young man didn't know the alleged victim. Because he wasn't present and was acting on second- or third-hand information, the young man isn't involved in the investigation and hasn't been called as a witness, McNamara said.
"I believe it is not a crime, but it was stupid, McNamara said. "He's a good kid from a good family who did a really dumb thing" while he was drunk and recognizes that there was no excuse for the remarks he made on it.
His parents "love their son, but they are disappointed," McNamara said. "He was not raised to act in this matter."
The young man graduated last year from Steubenville High School and attended Ohio State University last term on an academic scholarship. He isn't enrolled this term but hopes to return to school in the spring, summer or fall, McNamara said.
Although authorities say the alleged incidents took place at several parties in front of numerous witnesses on the night of Aug. 11 and 12, the two juveniles remain the only people charged in the case. Local residents have taken to social media and crime blogs to allege that police are covering up for the high school and its highly successful football team.
Hackers claiming to be affiliated with Anonymous, the loose international hacker collective, briefly took over a high school sports booster website last week and threatened to release personal information about other people they said should have been charged, as well as members of their families, including children.
But Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, whose office is handling the prosecution, has said investigators already knew about the video, and while he called it "despicable," he said it doesn't constitute new evidence.
Lawyers slam Anonymous release of video, photo
Expanding on DeWine's remarks, Abdalla said at a news conference Friday that authorities learned about the video in August and stressed that it hadn't been authenticated, saying the person who made it "wasn't even in the same place where the incident occurred."
"He made this video based on what people were telling him about (the alleged incident). This was no criminal act," Abdalla said. "I said it the other day: You can't arrest somebody for being stupid. It was disgusting and nauseating. But you can't arrest him for that."
Watch US News crime videos on NBCNews.com
City Manager Cathy Davison denied Saturday that police were dragging their heels, saying: "There's a lot accusations out there. Bring me something that we can investigate and prove that this happened."
City officials and Steubenville police created a website to answer questions about the case, stressing that Police Chief William McCafferty wasn't connected to the high school. He attended a different school, as does his daughter, it said.
Abdalla his office had been flooded with calls from county residents who said they felt threatened after the hackers posted their threat to reveal more personal information about others it alleged were involved. He said he knew who was behind the threat and that he would be dealt with.
"Say what you want to say about me. Do character assassinations like you do and you're going to continue to do," he said. "But when you start doing a hatchet job on innocent children, putting their names out on the computers and the Internet, on Facebook, I'm coming after you. Simple as that."
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Leave a Comment:
They guy admits that he raped her, right on the video for everyone to see and hear.
Please sign all these petitions so they are all charged: - Power and prestige does not allow you to violate people.
I'm guessing you tried to post petitions, and they wouldn't let you. Too bad they censor like that, they did it to me when I tried to link to another site that has been providing excellent coverage.
While he didn't actually admit to being participating in the rape (I watched the video, since it's till on YouTube thanks to Anonymous), he did admit to having witnessed what was happening to the victim, and someone who was in the room when the video was being shot, admitted urinating on the victim. Anyone who has not seen the video, really needs to. And anyone who has seen it knows that this young man has specific knowledge that the police should have questioned him on, and he should most definitely be compelled to testify as a witness. Anyone who still believes there is no cover up here, really needs to look again.
Here's what Tim Minchin thinks of people who protect rapists.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTIorwtJbhE
Obviously he is from a rich family, his mommy and daddy already got him a lawyer and he has been told to keep his mouth shut. Mommy and daddy will take care of this for him. Gotta wonder what else they took care of for their little monster.
Why are hate crimes against women somehow not considered crimes? If a young man participates in hate crimes, whether they rape or not, they should be charged. Hate includes making fun of the victim(s) of a crime, especially on camera. Knowing somebody who commits a crime does not make a person guilty be association, but continuing the hate and nasty language sure does. These people admit that the girl was drugged from the beginning.
The teenager that was not involved still is since a nice young man.His lawyer said what he did was stupid.I think what he did was disturbing.Hopefully Ohio State will not allow him to attend their college.He was old enough to know what he did and I think that he could be a danger to society based on his actions.
He made it clear in that video that he had specific knowledge of what happened to the victim, and should be compelled to testify. Whether or not he is a "nice young man", the disdain he displayed for another human life in that video tells me that "nice" does not describe that young man appropriately. Again, if you have not seen the video, it is available on YouTube courtesy of Anonymous. After you see it, tell me again if you think he is a "nice young man". Not only should Ohio State not allow him to attend, but young women in the area should be very concerned about this young man and what he might be capable of.
Have you seen the video? This kid is NOT a nice person by any definition. You should watch the video before giving your obviously uninformed opinion.
we petition the obama administration to:
Assign a Justice Department team to investigate civil rights violations of a 16-year-old girl allegedly raped in Ohio.
Also anyone who took photos and video and uploaded should be charged with child pornography.
Sign this petition, then please pass it around
http://wh.gov/Udbq
"Not involved" but knew rape was occurring and joked about it. That's some kid you've got there. Perhaps we should do society a favor and just lock him up anyway.
He thinks rape and death are joking matters? He should do society a favor and commi suicide. He's a worthless prat.
i seen the video i have two daughters turn him over to the family. im a marine corps veteran i got ways to reform idiots like this!!!!!
She was given date rape drugs as soon as she arrived. It was all set up and planned by her ex boyfriend on the football team after she said she didn't want to go out with him anymore. This was his revenge.
Really shocking stuff, please read and share.
Actually Mom & Dad your kid was raised to act that way. You allow him to go to unsupervised parties and his behavior is a reflection on how you have raised him. He said on the tape when asked if that were his daughter being raped that he wouldn't care. He made fun of the girl and knew she was completely out of it, he repeatedly said she was "dead". I'm glad your brat is getting heat for his on camera interview by another teen. He didn't rape her but by what he was saying if given the chance he most likely would have participated. All these parents should be ashamed of the way they are raising their children, girls and boys alike. Where are the parents at these party houses? The article said they went to multiple party houses. It does seem as though this town tried to underscore the severity of this crime, because they were football "stars". If that was the case then good the nation knows where not to go live and raise a family.
The one good thing about this young man? His video gives the prosecution a way to dispute an attorney's claim that the victim was coherent.
I have not been closely following this case, but I remember seeing a documentary entitled Go Tigers about twelve years ago, filmed in nearby Massillon, Ohio. It showed the ugly football culture there in which parents pressured all boys to be football players and all girls to be compliant little cheerleaders. Intellectual and artistic abilities were not valued, and many intelligent kids were told, "I've seen football do more in life than some book," etc.
With a big game coming up, the town devolved into name calling, bullying, and outright violence, with someone throwing bricks through a resident's window early in the morning. The kids who showed creativity and promise left town after graduation, never to return, and worked in careers for which the town elders had no respect and of which their own parents did not seem to be proud.
It was the saddest documentary I have seen in my life. My partner grew up in Ohio and does not miss it. Me, I would only go to see the Museum of the U.S. Air Force.
Massilon Ohio is trying to do more to emphasize the arts: it was the hometown of Lilian and Dorothy Gish, two of the earliest film stars. Some of the small towns have seen major employers leave since the 1970s and Nixon's destruction of the steel industry; these towns have tried to find something else to be proud of, but the result is an over-emphasis of sports, seen as the only way to "make it" for young men. As for Steubenville, it is especially odd, as there was some controversial theology that came from there in the Roman Catholic Church, that the Blessed Virgin Mary is "Co-redemptrix." One would think that women would be held in high esteem in such a community, but the overriding mindset is that of depression, with the much more major loss of jobs. Don't worry, Steubenville is in the area of both fracking and nuclear power: they have much more to worry about than how their foo-ball team is doing.
I tried to enter the link with the shocking details, but it doesn't appear in my post above. Please google LocalLeaks for the real truth. It is sickening, and word needs to be spread.
They can look it up by going to YouTube and putting in Steubenville rape.
There were a lot of people involve, if this guy is so innocent how did he know how dry her"puss" was??? He spoke quite knowledgably about it?? B/c these guys r underage they r trying to protect them, they shud have called the police b4 it got this far! They r all guilty n witnesses, get the FBI into this little oligarchy. They stood their watching a crime.
or they can google 3 words : local leaks stuebenville
Then I guess they should free the two alleged rapists too because they are probably 'good kids too who came from good families but just did dumb things'. But i guess the same yardstick won't be used for the usual obvious reason. As far as i am concerned, they should ALL be thrown into sewerage if the allegations turn out to be true.
Remember Robert Chambers back in the mid-1980s, who killed his "girlfriend" Jennifer Levin after "rough sex" in Central Park, NYC? He was an upper-class "good kid" who justified the strangulation murder as just too much excitement, but anybody who actually cared about another human being would never allow them to suffocate in such a way. It isn't a dumb thing, but a malicious evil thing that deserves justice for every one of them who was either involved or was present and did nothing to stop it.
I love how the parents always say "He wasn't raised that way"... but then he acted that way anyhow.
Very similar situation took place in Saline, Michigan about ten years ago. Football team star raped a girl who was drunk and it split the town in two. The to make matters worse a local car dealer who felt he had all the power because he was a former Chicago Bear got involved and tried to use his money to get the rapist out of prison!
Give us a break! He admitted to raping the girl but now his lawyer denies he had any involvement? Go figure- this is from a lawyer- master manipulators of reality.
Our males are better of the indians males ?
Good point. Is our society that much more civilized than India's? Gang rapes that happen in big cities don't always make national news, but when it happens in small towns and suburbs....
You're so wrong, I live in LA and stuff like this does happen here and it always makes the news. I used the stories to steer my daughter away from situations like that, but she laughs and says, "not my friends", they wouldn't do that...one day she said that as we were watching a Dr. Phil episode on that specific topic and of course she came up with some smart-a$$ remark, eluding to the girl probably being a tease. I got so mad (I was pregnant, hormones) that I took the chocolate milk I was drinking and poured it over her head. I then told her to go in the shower and think about what she had said. When I saw the comments some of the Steubenville girls left on twitter about Jane Doe, it reminded me of my daughter.
please ana, I said big city stuff doesn't make national news . I'm sure you see it in the news there in L.A. We just don't hear about those out here in Ohio. Steubenville is about the same size as my hometown. Those are the ones that make the national news. It is truly a shame that the U.S. doesn't pay as much attention to this problem until it hits the affluent white suburbs.
Having seen the video in question: I don't think kids act like that unless they have been taught that it's OK. Maybe not by their parents but by someone a little older than themselves that may have done such things and got away with it. The total lack of conscience on the part of Showoff (my name for the kid in the video) tells me he's seen this behavior somewhere before and thought it was "really cool". I've seen that type of behavior in movies about (of all things) conscienceless criminals. For 12 1/2 minutes he puts on a show for his friends (some of which admit having been there too) showing just how little he cares about human life. Laughing and repeating over and over "she was dead" I lost track of how many times he said that in 12 1/2 minutes. This is the type of kid who becomes a monster who could be capable of any heinous act. This is the type of person that should not be allowed to own a gun. (With or without a psychiatric evaluation)
@realisticpessimist53 Amen to that.
He obviously has some deep seated psychological problems that his clueless parents and the lawyer should be addressing.His attitude and actions are unacceptable to most of us and yet his parents say that he is nice.They seem to have a thought process problem also.
maybe the lawyer should bring his kids and see how he would like it if something like that happened to his daughters. i wonder if he would call that a legal lynching. after all dumb f------ lawyer, this is 2013 not 1913
But in 1913 in Ohio, none of this would have happened. One hundred years ago, there was a housing boom, business, and cultural activity in the region. The whole trouble is that it is 2013, and human life is considered a joke.
People are no different now than in 2013, but there were far less social services available back then and nobody would have believed the victim at all. At least now there's video proof. The dumb kid in the video knew she wasn't literally dead (I did see most of the video) so I don't think it's lack of respect for human life - it's lack of respect for WOMEN. It's blatantly clear that these good ol' boys have zero respect for any female, especially one "dumb" enough to get herself drugged and raped. As if that were her fault. "Oh she shouldn't have been drinking" well neither should the underage boys! And they should not be doing things to anyone who is unconscous. Just because she wasn't literally ripped apart like that poor woman in India, doesn't mean this rape isn't just as serious. Rape is rape! And I personally think males who rape should be charged with a hate crime against females. I'm so sick of hearing these stories everyday. Adults, especially men (fathers, coaches etc) need to teach boys to respect women as actual equal human beings!!! We are not your property to be done with as you please!
It seems to me that we give our sports figures too much in the way of free passes for their conduct. At the high school level, collage level and professional levels. -- They can do no wrong and therefore get away with such grossly deplorable conduct. I have noted that the teen sports figures are some of the worst-such undeserved beliefs entitlement. I would not discount their parents' encouragement either as a result of such behavior-they are responsible too. Perhaps 20 lashes of a heavy whip along with a lengthy prison term would take their ego edge down a notch (or realistically make them even more of a criminal creep than they already are). What neolithic trolls they are.
The "free pass" is the salary: because we pay them so much compared to talented individuals in any other field, they think they can do anything at all, and the rules do not apply to them. An Ohio state championship team thinks, knows, that every member of it can "be" somebody someday, which means be rich. The only way to deal with this is to take away the big salaries for all sports. People pay a lot to go to games, and spend on sponsors of TV games, but think about it: people do that because they "think" that sports is somehow an 'everyman's' activity. It is not: these are highly trained professionals, like gymnasts. Their parents have put thousands of dollars into their training, and their schools have continued all those freebies. These are not the "A" students who work their buns off just to try for a few cents in a scholarship (a $500 scholarship won't buy books for one semester), but these are average students that have special tutors, special doctor sports medicine care, special jacuzzis, the works. Have we really done a self-examination of this culture? Why does any art have to fight for a few cents, but sports stadiums are built without the need for referendums? Why do schools have to fight for their budgets, which sports programs automatically get funding? It is not just the schools, but the towns and cities. If people took the time to enjoy some of the beautiful cultural activities of their area, they would get a lot more enjoyment for a much lower price than these sports events.
Abdalla mentions character assassination. Well, for his part, I'd say he doesn't have to worry too much about his character being assassinated, because it committed suicide some days ago. The rest of the world is just pointing to the remains and saying, "see, there it is."
I'm not going to enter into the discussion regarding his involvement, the way he was raised, etc. other than to say it was vile and disgusting.
This is irrelevant and I'm not an MSNBC basher in general but does anyone bother to proof read these things? Pathetic jornalism.
You can't arrest someone for being stupid? But you sure as hell can arrest them failure to render aid, or being an accomplice... What a slap in the face to the victim.
If they knew that she was being sexually assaulted, then he can charge them with accessory because while they may not have participated, they didn't report the crime. He's been sheriff for nearly 30 years, he should know that. This is why people think they're trying to cover it up, they have evidence in a video, pictures, tweets and facebook updates that several more than just these two teens knew about what was happening to the poor girl and did NOTHING about it. They even LAUGHED about her being violated. That's messed up and not ok on any level.
Actually - failure to report the crime is not accessory to the crime - accessory means he somehow either furthered the crime or actively concealed it (he certainly didn't conceal it by making an idiotic video). Failure to report a felony is called "misprision of a felony." Under Ohio statute it is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in jail and/or a $250 fine. However, I suspect that is rarely prosecuted because it is extremely difficult to prove - in this case they would have to establish he had actual firsthand knowledge of the rape and wasn't just a dumb@ss going on conjecture or rumor.
It is a hate crime. That is enough. No such thing as a hate crime about women???? I doubt that women are excluded from the definition of hate crimes.
I would hope women aren't excluded from the definition of hate crimes, but I'm really not sure. I've never heard it used in any rape cases. Our leaders won't pass the Violence Against Women Act or the Equal Rights Amendment either, so we're still subject to the patriarchal control of men over our lives. And then they accuse us of overreacting to their abuse! Oh if only the tables were turned, how the men would scream at the injustice! This world is so messed up, always has been, and I hope it won't always be that way but until all children, BOTH boys & girls, are taught that girls are valuable and equal in worth to males, these misogynistic attitudes will continue.
The parents are disappointed - Wow Ashamed is a better description.
an ohio state buckeye need we say more!!!!!!!
"He was not raised to act in this matter.".......... B.S.
He was there - he was involved - period.
The two assistant coach's should be arrested as well.
Idiot kid = (usually) idiot parents. Don't have kids if you're an idiot, and please don't goad your idiot friends into having kids, either. Just be an idiot...that's bad enough for the rest of us.
I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
They are more likely to do that to themselves, as there is a nuclear power plant in the area.
You can trust what I say, I am a Lawyer...
What a joke...
I don't know that kid was raised, but he certainly wasn't raised to respect women and girls. His parents can say what they want, but he got that attitude from someone, somewhere. Good kids from good families don't stand by while a girl is unconscious and being violated. Good kids from good families don't laugh and joke about it, they stand up to the perps and stop the behavior. Sorry, Mr. Attorney. Your client didn't just do a dumb thing. He did a reprehensible, disgusting, vile thing that he should answer for.