Steubenville rapist released from juvenile detention center less than a year after being jailed for attack on 16-year-old girl



Ma'Lik Richmond, a high school football player, was let out of the Cuyahoga Hills Juvenile Detention Center in Ohio around January 1

His lawyer said he is a 'better, stronger person' and asked for privacy



One of the Steubenville rapists has been released from a juvenile detention center less than a year after his conviction for raping a 16-year-old girl following an alcohol-fueled party.

Ma'Lik Richmond, a high school football player who was 16 at the time of the sexual assault, was let out of the Cuyahoga Hills Juvenile Detention Center in Ohio some time around January 1.

His attorney, Walter Madison, says in a statement that the youth is a 'better, stronger person,' and requests privacy.

Ma'lik Richmond (right), pictured with fellow attacker Trent Mays, on the day the pair were convicted

Defense attorney Walter Madison (right) comforts Ma'Lik Richmond (left) as Richmond reacts to the verdict during his trial at the juvenile court in Steubenville, Ohio on March 17, 2013

Messages left on Monday for Madison seeking further information weren't immediately returned.



Richmond was sentenced to one year in March 2013. A judge convicted him and fellow Steubenville High School student athlete Trent Mays of raping the West Virginia girl in August 2012.



Mays was convicted of using his phone to take a picture of the girl naked. He was sentenced to two years.

Last August, Judge Thomas Lipps classified Richmond as a tier 2 sex offender which means he will be required to register every six months for the next 20 years.

Unlike adult sex offenders, Richmond's name won't be included on publicly accessible websites. And he can request to have the sex offender classification removed later based on his history of rehabilitation.

NEWS9 r eceived a statement from Richmond's attorney which said: 'The past sixteen months have been extremely challenging for Ma'lik and his extended family.



The teenage victim is manhandled by the two rapists who were convicted and sentenced to juvenile detention last March

'At sixteen years old, Ma'lik and his family endured hardness beyond imagine for any adult yet alone child. He has persevered the hardness and made the most of yet another unfortunate set of circumstances in his life, as with each other obstacle, Ma'lik has met it squarely, lifted his chin, and set his shoulders; He is braced for the balance of his life.'

The attorney for rape victim Jane Doe, Bob Fitzsimmons later told the TV station: ' Although everyone hopes convicted criminals are rehabilitated, it is disheartening that this convicted rapist's press release does not make a single reference to the victim and her family - whom he and his co-defendant scarred for life.'

