There’s some controversy as to whether prosecutors, including Mike DeWine’s office, offered any of the witnesses a deal that they are immune from any prosecution in the future. This section of the transcript seems to indicate that Anthony Craig was told he would not be prosecuted, however I don’t have a copy of the letter that is discussed here.

Is this a contradiction? Perhaps not. It’s possible that Craig was told he would not be prosecuted on the pornography charge, most likely because there is no evidence of it even though he is admitted to what he had. That is a limited deal that would not, for example exempt Mr. Craig from being prosecuted for other things. To reiterate: this is pure speculation on my part.

Ma’lik Richmond’s attorney Madison hands Anthony Craig a letter of some kind.

 

First, the judge asks Anthony Craig about the alleged assault at the Cole residence and then Ma’lik Richmond’s lawyer clarifies what Craig actually saw.

This video has 50,000+ views and it gets all the facts wrong, exactly along the same lines as the Alexandria Goddard / LocalLeaks narrative.

Among the false claims:

• No coverup
• Alleged victim not raped ‘vaginally and anally’
• Not comatose
• Coach never said to destroy evidence
• Prosecutor prosecuted
• No such thing as rape crew
• and on and on and on

What really happened? Read the court transcript here:

This is pretty unreal.

I want you to compare what LocalLeaks is claiming ‘really happened’ to what prosecution witnesses say ‘really happened’. It is AMAZING that LocalLeak hasn’t been vetted or corrected on the huge number of factual errors in this one paragraph.

And LocalLeaks account has been linked everywhere.

After being convinced, with some amount of coaxing – to attend the parties that night with the “Rape Crew” by by Mark Cole’s girlfriend Santoro, Jane Doe was picked up at a volley ball team party she was attending in the early evening of August 11th and transported in a vehicle with Richmond, Mays and Cole in it. Jane Doe was administered a “date rape” drug snuck into her drink almost immediately, possibly while still in the vehicle enroute to the nights “festivities”. In any case, she has no memories after being picked up. The first party of the night was at the home of Assistant Coach Rick Cameletti, where Michael Nodianos, Charlie Keenan, Cody Saltsman, and Anthony Craig were already engaged in heavy drinking and drug use. At this location Jane Doe was raped multiple times by Richmond and Mays and at least two other assailants from the “Rape Crew”. At that point the “party” went on the move. They first stopped at another Assistant Coach’s home, Coach Belerdine. Both Belerdine and his sister were present at this time. Jane Doe was again sexually assaulted at this party. They hit the road again with an unconscious Jane Doe in tow. While en route to Mark Cole’s house, Jane was again  (adding: allegedly) raped and sodomized in the back seat of a vehicle – and this was video recorded by Mark Cole who was in the front seat. Her attackers (adding: alleged assailaint) in the car were again Mays and Richmond. Once they arrived at Mark Cole’s house Jane Doe was carried (adding: helped to walk down) to the basement where she was again (adding: allegedly) raped multiple times by multiple attackers, one of which was Michael Nodianos. Also at the Cole residence, Jane Doe was orally raped by Trent Mays. Finally, having sated themselves and exhausted any further entertainment that Jane Doe could provide for these animals, she was unceremoniously dumped (still unconscious) onto the front lawn of the Cole residence – where at least one member of the “Rape Crew” proceeded to urinate on her. At some point in the early morning hours of August 12th, a still unconscious Jane Doe was transported to her home in West Virginia – where she was deposited on the front lawn of her families home. She was discovered there by her parents at dawn.

 Read the events of the night from the transcript of the probable cause hearing.

Another strange bit from Walter Madison’s cross of Anthony Craig:

So, this is bizarre bit of testimony and I’m curious to see what you think in comments. Better yet, if anyone from Steubenville KNOWS what this is about send me a confidential email to Stranahan@Gmail.com.

The Daily Mail claims that two other photos found on Anthony Craig’s phone indicate ‘two more victims!’.

EXCLUSIVE: Pictures found on cellphone show TWO MORE girls semi-naked and face down in basement where 16-year-old was ‘raped by Ohio school football stars’

Craig starts by admitting he had more photos but unless I’m reading the transcript wrong, Craig clearly says he was sent the photos by the women and they don’t seem to be from the basement Then Ma’lik Richmond’s attorney should Craig two photos that Craig claims he has never seen but it seems to me the lawyer is implying the photos are of Jane Doe, whose real named I have redacted. There’a a lot of Objecting so it gets confusing at points.

None of this seems to indicate two new victims, unless by victim you mean ‘willing participant’. and assuming Craig isn’t lying.

Um. Well?

 

I’ve had a few interesting discussions with people on Twitter about the broad concept of ‘consent’, which is obviously going to be a factor in the legal case. Again — I have no interest in trying the case in public. We haven’t heard from the defense and we’re only heard a little from the prosecution in the Probable Cause hearing. Let’s let the case play out. Let’s not rush to judgment.

One unhelpful thing some people say is ‘No means no.‘ It’s true. I agree that no means no. The problem is that this case is more complex that and as the transaction shows. That’s why these deeper issues of consent come into plau.

This is embarrassing because the LocalLeaks – posted by Anonymous member Commander X – has been linked to over and over again when Anonymous gets credit for “exposing the story.” Just look at the slobbering hackery of The Atlantic Write in their piece entitled (without a hint of irony) Inside the Search for the Truth About Steubenville — 1,000 Tips at a Time:

When the case surrounding the alleged August rape of a 16-year-old girl by two high-school football players in a small Ohio city went viral last week, the attention of a nation turned to a little-known outfit called LocalLeaks, a website styling itself after WikiLeaks and partnering with the do-gooder hacking collective Anonymous on a document and video dump that it calls The Steubenville Files.

Meanwhile, the very first paragraph that sets up the story is packed full of lies, exaggerations and then lie after lie, plus simple factual errors that show the sloppiness of their work. They even got the date of the arrest wrong and haven’t corrected it. 

Want to see where they went wrong — start by comparing their fiction to the prosecution’s witnesses from the Probable Cause hearing.

After the jump : an amazing huge partial list is sites that linked to LocalLeaks –– including reddit, Buzzfeed and NUMEROUS links from CNN…it’s scary to think how far their disinformation spread.

Continue reading →

WORK IN PROGRESS: SEND NOTES / CORRECTIONS / QUESTIONS to @Stranahan on Twitter.

The Steubenville rape case story shocked many people when they first heard about and no wonder: the accounts were dramatic.

Allison Kilkenny in The Nation:

Following the horrific assault of a 16-year-old girl in which the alleged rapists, Trent Mays and Ma’lik Richmond, dragged the extremely drunk girl to three separate parties during the course of the night as their personal rape toy, hundreds of protesters descended upon the city of Steubenville, Ohio, demanding justice. 

Michelle Dean in the New Yorker:

What emerged was terrifying: rumor had it that she’d been repeatedly sexually assaulted at several parties, publicly dragged from house to house, unconscious, as a “joke.”

Natasha Lennard in Salon:

A 16-year-old girl was, according to prosecutors, gang raped and dragged from party to party by a number of star football players while she was too drunk to consent. 

But did those journalists and others get the facts correct?

Let’s compare those dramatics summaries with the facts that the prosecution presented. Remember, this testimony resulting in the judge finding probable cause for rape.

It’s important to note : this is not ‘blaming the victim’. In fact, quite the opposite — what I’m laying out here are the facts that the prosecution and their witnesses used in the probable cause hearing. It’s not the prosecution of the victim who wrote the articles listed about; it’s journalists. Correcting their incorrect or misleading statements has nothing to do with the alleged victim.

1) The First Party at the Belardine House

The suspects did not bring Jane Doe to this party. Here, the prosecution examines to Anthony Craig.

When the party ended at about 12:15,  Jane Doed needed help walking but according the testimony — testimony elicited by the prosecution, it should be pointed out — Jane Doe voluntarily left with suspects and in fact had an argument with her girlfriends about leaving with them. This is Mark Cole.

2) Drive from Belardine to Howarth

Five minute drive. Accuser was awake. Nothing eventful.

3) The Second “Party “at Jake Howarth House

Not much of a party at this point in the evening. They accuser, suspects and Mark Cole were only there about twenty minutes. Alleged victim is awake.

Testimony claims no drinking at the second party.

Jane Doe is conscious, throws up and is sleepy

The group left this party because they were told to leave by Jake Howarth’s mother.

Jane Doe has apparently fallen asleep and needs to be carried out. This testimony is from Anthony Craig.

Craig says he doesn’t know what they were yelling.

On the walk to the car, Jane Doe is awake and says she needs to throw up.  You’ll note this witness – Mark Cole – saw the suspects helping Jane Doe.

4) Car ride from Howarth house to Cole house

This is where the first alleged assault happen. NSFW testimony from

5) “Party” At Cole House

This is where the second alleged assaults happen. This is the last stop and not really a ‘party’, exactly. This is the testimony of Mark Cole.

Talking to Steve Edwards and this came up:

https://twitter.com/SteveEdwards314/status/291332520207855616

https://twitter.com/SteveEdwards314/status/291332552164249600

Here’s what the transcript says: