Steubenville Rape Case: Trial, Indictments, and Aftermath

The Steubenville rape case was the 2012 sexual assault of an intoxicated 16-year-old girl by two Steubenville High School football players, Trent Mays and Ma’lik Richmond, during a night of end-of-summer parties in Steubenville, Ohio. Both were convicted of rape in juvenile court in March 2013 after photos, videos, and text messages posted by partygoers documented the assault and its aftermath online. The case drew national attention to bystander behavior, victim-blaming, and the culture surrounding a celebrated high school football program.

What Happened on August 11–12, 2012

The victim attended several parties across Steubenville on the night of August 11 and into the morning of August 12, 2012. She drank heavily and became severely impaired. She later testified that she remembered drinking at a party and holding the hands of Mays, then 17, and Richmond, then 16, as she left. Her next memory was waking up naked in an unfamiliar house.¹

Witnesses testified she was slurring her words, stumbling, and vomiting throughout the night.² While she was in that condition, Mays and Richmond digitally penetrated her, which constitutes rape under Ohio law. A witness granted immunity described seeing Mays use his fingers on the victim during a car ride between parties.¹ An Instagram photo shown at trial captured the two defendants carrying the unconscious girl by her arms and legs.³

The victim did not initially know what had happened to her. She reconstructed the night from photos, tweets, text messages, and a YouTube video that circulated in the days after.⁴

How Social Media Documented the Assault

Partygoers photographed, filmed, and commented on the assault in real time across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Two days after the assault was reported, police seized roughly a dozen electronic devices, and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation eventually reviewed tens of thousands of messages and photos.⁵

Text messages became central. In them, Mays acknowledged penetrating the victim and asked friends to give him an alibi. Prosecutors also introduced a text from the victim to a friend saying, “I told them ‘no.'”⁶³ Another exchange read in court had Mays complaining, “I’m about to get kicked off my football team,” and the victim responding, “The more you bring up football, the more pissed I get, because that’s like all you care about.”⁷

A 12-minute video also surfaced showing a recent Steubenville High graduate, Michael Nodianos, laughing about the assault and saying, “You don’t need any foreplay with a dead girl.”⁴ Nodianos was not present at the assault and was not charged. Through his attorney, he said there was “no excuse or justification” for his comments and that he was “ashamed and embarrassed.”⁸

At sentencing, the victim’s mother told Mays and Richmond, “You were your own accuser, through the social media that you chose to publish your criminal conduct on.”⁶

How the Case Went National

Before mainstream media picked up the story, a crime blogger named Alexandria Goddard preserved it. Through her site Prinniefied.com, Goddard archived tweets, photos, and posts by the teenagers involved before they could be deleted.⁹ The blog also became a forum for Steubenville residents who felt local authorities were not pursuing the case aggressively.¹⁰

The hacktivist collective Anonymous amplified her findings, combing Twitter and Facebook posts from the night of the assault and generating public pressure. Goddard later said Anonymous helped “shine light on injustice” when local media was glossing over the case, but had “no set rules of engagement” and included “some bad actors.”⁹ Anonymous also published the Nodianos video, which pushed the case into national headlines.⁴

The Trial and Verdict

On August 27, 2012, Jefferson County Prosecutor Jane Hanlin requested help from the Ohio Attorney General, and Mike DeWine’s office took over the prosecution.¹¹ Because Mays and Richmond were minors, they were tried in juvenile court before Judge Thomas Lipps, without a jury.²

Over four days, the victim testified that she had reconstructed the events using Twitter, Instagram, text messages, and video.⁷ Several witnesses who saw the defendants digitally penetrate her testified that they had not recognized what they were seeing as rape.² The defense argued that she was capable of consent despite her intoxication.

On March 17, 2013, Judge Lipps found both defendants delinquent, the juvenile equivalent of guilty. He called the evidence “profane” and “ugly,” and said that if the defendants had been tried as adults, “they would be spending many years in an adult prison.”² Richmond was convicted of rape and sentenced to a minimum of one year in juvenile detention. Mays was convicted of rape and an additional felony count of using a minor in nudity-oriented material for photographing and distributing images of the victim; he received a minimum of two years.¹ Both were classified as Tier II sex offenders, requiring registration every six months for 20 years.¹²

The Grand Jury and Adult Indictments

After the verdicts, DeWine convened a grand jury to examine whether adults had covered up or failed to report the assault. It met 18 times, heard from 123 witnesses, and indicted six people connected to the Steubenville school system.¹³

Superintendent Michael McVey was charged with tampering with evidence, obstruction of justice, falsification, and obstructing official business.¹⁴ Technology director William Rhinaman was indicted on tampering with evidence, obstruction of justice, obstructing official business, and perjury. Volunteer football coach Matthew Belardine was charged with allowing underage drinking and related counts. Wrestling coach Seth Fluharty and elementary school principal Lynnett Gorman were charged with failure to report child abuse.¹⁵

The cases largely dissolved. In January 2015, all charges against McVey were dismissed without prejudice in exchange for his resignation and an agreement never to work for the district again.¹⁶ Rhinaman took a plea deal that dropped the felonies; he pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor of obstructing official business and received 10 days in jail, a $250 fine, community service, and one year of probation.¹⁷

Head football coach Reno Saccoccia, who had led the program since 1983, was never indicted. Text messages read at trial indicated he “may have been aware of the rape allegation early on,” and one player claimed Saccoccia knew what had happened and “took care of it.”¹⁸ An online petition demanding his firing gathered more than 134,000 signatures. The Steubenville school board gave him a two-year contract extension in April 2013, while the grand jury was still being convened.¹⁹

Where the Defendants Are Now

Ma’lik Richmond served his minimum sentence and was released in January 2014.²⁰ In November 2014, Judge Lipps reduced his registration requirement to once a year for 10 years. On May 11, 2018, over the state attorney general’s opposition, Lipps removed Richmond from the sex offender registry entirely, saying “the system of rehabilitation for young offenders has worked as designed in this instance” and citing his completion of treatment, remorse, and low-risk assessments.²¹ Richmond returned to high school football and later played as a reserve defensive end at Youngstown State University from 2017 through 2019.²²

Trent Mays served the full two years and was released on January 6, 2015. He was placed on probation and enrolled at a high school near Steubenville.²³ In September 2015, Judge Lipps reduced his sex offender classification to the lowest level, changing his registration to annually for 10 years.²⁴

The 2017 Courthouse Shooting

On August 21, 2017, Nathaniel Richmond, Ma’lik Richmond’s father, opened fire on Jefferson County Common Pleas Judge Joseph Bruzzese Jr. outside the courthouse in Steubenville. The judge was wounded, and Nathaniel Richmond was killed when the judge and a probation officer returned fire.²⁵

Prosecutor Jane Hanlin said there was “no connection” between the shooting and the rape case. Judge Bruzzese had not presided over the rape trial; Nathaniel Richmond had a pending wrongful death lawsuit before him related to a 2015 house fire that killed his mother.²⁶

The CNN Coverage Backlash

The verdict itself was overshadowed for a time by criticism of CNN’s live coverage. Reporter Poppy Harlow described the defendants as “two young men that had such promising futures, star football players, very good students” and narrated how their lives were “falling apart.” Anchor Candy Crowley referred to their conviction for “rape, essentially.” Legal analyst Paul Callan focused on how registered sex offender status would follow them for the rest of their lives.²⁷²⁸

Two Change.org petitions demanding an apology gathered more than 196,000 signatures each. Anderson Cooper later provided context on air, noting the defendants had initially denied the crime and quoting Richmond’s admission at sentencing that his actions “ruined a young girl’s life.”²⁹

The case has since been widely cited as a turning point in public conversation about consent, incapacitation, and what came to be called rape culture. Two girls were arrested after the verdict for posting threats against the victim on social media.⁶ The 2018 documentary Roll Red Roll, directed by Nancy Schwartzman, examined the bystander culture around the assault and Goddard’s role in preserving the evidence; it premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and later aired on PBS.³⁰

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CNN. Two Teens Found Guilty in Steubenville Rape Case
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CBS News. Steubenville Rape Trial Verdict
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NBC News. Steubenville High School Rape Trial Zeroes in on Texts, Photos, Video
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BBC Three. Steubenville Rape Case
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Christian Science Monitor. Ohio Rape Case: Evidence on Social Media Creates New World for Justice
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USA Today. Steubenville Rape, Social Media, Football
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NPR. Two Steubenville Football Players Found Guilty of Rape
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CBS News. Steubenville Rape Case: Student in Online Video Leaves Ohio State
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Documentary.org. Doc Star of the Month: Alexandria Goddard, Roll Red Roll
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ACLU of Michigan. Anonymous Justice: Steubenville and Beyond
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Ohio Attorney General. Attorney General DeWine Issues Statement on Steubenville
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CNN. Steubenville Rape Case Update
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NBC News. Steubenville Case: Four More Charged Including Superintendent, Volunteer Coach
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Ohio Attorney General. Indictments Issued by Steubenville Special Grand Jury
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ABC News. Steubenville School Superintendent Indicted in Rape Case
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The Guardian. Steubenville Cover-Up Charges Dropped Against Superintendent
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Times Leader. Rhinaman Pleads Guilty
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WOSU. Prosecutor: Ohio Rape Case Pursued Over Dad’s Wish
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The Nation. Steubenville High School Football Coach Gets Two-Year Contract Extension
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ESPN. Ma’lik Richmond Released Less Than a Year After Rape Conviction
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Weirton Daily Times. Richmond to No Longer File as Sex Offender
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YSU Sports. Ma’lik Richmond – Football Roster
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ESPN. Steubenville Ohio High School Rape Convict Released From Custody
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Tribune Chronicle. Sex Offender Status Reduced in Steubenville Rape Case
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NBC News. Ohio Judge Shot Outside Courthouse in Apparent Ambush-Style Attack
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Herald-Star. Nathaniel Richmond Had Civil Case Pending Before Bruzzese
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Anchorage Daily News. Outrage of the Day: Rape Coverage in the Media
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Al Jazeera. Outraged by Outrage and the Steubenville Rapists
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Tampa Bay Times. Criticism Over CNN Coverage of Steubenville Rape Verdict
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The 74. Roll Red Roll Documentary on Ohio High School Rape Case