The trial may be over and sentencing is done, but the public is still weighing in on the Steubenville rape case, and the responses aren’t pretty.
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The former president of the Steubenville chapter of the NAACP said that he places the blame for the rape on the 16-year-old victim. Royal Mayo, a lifelong Ohio resident, even called the young girl an “alleged victim.”
[Mayo] says that attention should be focused on the role of the young woman, whom he calls the “alleged victim,” saying she was drunk and wanted to go out with one of the football players.
In an exclusive phone interview with International Business Times, Mayo suggested that the victim, who was drunk and unconscious, was having “consensual” sex with Ma’lik Richmond (who he personally knows) and Trenton Mays.
“She said her mother brought her to the party, at 3 o’clock, with a bottle of vodka,” Mayo said. “Where did you get it, young lady? You brought it from home? Where’d you get it? You came to the party with your mother.”
Mayo added that she might have been a willing participant, apparently unfazed by the inflammatory nature of such statements. “They’re alleging she got raped; she’s acknowledging that she wanted to leave with Trent. Her friends say she pushed them away as she went and got into the car, twice telling them, ‘I know what I’m doing; I’m going with Trent,’” Mayo said.
Mayo even had some burning questions about the trial, which he said he attended every day court was in session.
“Well, there were so many things surrounding that case that made it seem odd to me,” Mayo said. “What they did was, they said, ‘We want DNA from everybody at the party, because everybody is a suspect in the alleged rape.’ One individual at the party didn’t give his DNA, refused to give his DNA, and he was allowed to refuse to give his DNA.” Mayo is referring to Evan Westlake, one of the teens present at the three locations where the sexual assault occurred.
Although Mays’ DNA was found on a blanket that covered the victim, Mayo is unconvinced about the evidence that links Richmond to the rape. He believes that the evidence is, at best, inconclusive and, at worst, not credible.
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“Now, he said, ‘It appeared that he did something,’ ‘It looked like’ and ‘I thought …’ He never said, ‘I was definite, and I’m 100 percent sure.’ And, out of the witnesses, he’s the only one that said that. The other guys said, ‘Ma’lik was behind her, I couldn’t tell, I couldn’t see anything,’ but he definitely saw it,” Mayo says.
To his credit, Mayo is convinced that there are more students involved with the rape and he isn’t so trustworthy of Steubenville police, who he says are trying to cover up the rape and scandal which followed quickly.
But that still doesn’t excuse his shocking comments about the victim! It’s time for the court of public opinion to stop excusing rape, and start protecting our women.
SOURCE: IBTIMES
