The judge read his verdict a few minutes ago. Adjudicated Delinquent on both counts of rape and 1 count of distributing nude pictures of a minor. (Adjudicated Delinquent is the equivalent of Guilty in Ohio's juvenile justice system.) The clear point of Ohio rape law was upheld. If one person in a sexual encounter cannot respond, they cannot consent. The defense position that she didn't say no or dissent did NOT withstand scrutiny.
Juvenile trials are all bench trials and a jury doesn't pass judgement on the guilt or innocence of the plaintiffs. The judge in this case pronounced his verdict in record time. Closing arguments ended last night around 5 pm EDT. The judge stated that the evidence presented to him was very troubling, but I don't have an actual quote yet.
UPDATE 2: There is no transcript, but I have video (and for once, it seems to be working for me).
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This being a juvenile case, the most these boys can receive is incarceration until they are 21. I'm not sure if they will have to register as sex offenders. According to Cleveland.com
Both teens are convicted of the juvenile equivalent of rape. They will likely undergo assessments to determine their risk level, which could help the judge decide whether they should be committed to a juvenile detention facility. They could also undergo a sexual offender assessment to help classify them into one of the sex offender registration tiers.This has been a ugly case and I've been following it closely. The Alternet is running a story asking Is Alcohol the New Short Skirt and it's worth considering. A great deal of defense surrounded the idea that since this girl drank alcohol she somehow consented to what happened to her. Perhaps the best thing to have happened is that an outside judge presided and an Ohio State Prosecutor presented the case. No doubt if this was a local trial, there would have been a different outcome.
I know the Steubenville area quite well. For the most part, this town has a lot of good people living in it. Unfortunately, there is also an element of ignorance about rape. We'll see if this verdict will wake them up and get them to reevaluate their gender based stereotypes and worship of local football.
I will update this as more information becomes available.