steubenville statue.jpg

credit

(Photo by Gus Chan, The Plain Dealer)

Prosecutors and defense lawyers will be in Jefferson County Juvenile Court in Steubenville later this week to make arguments on a number of motions filed in the lead up to the trial of two 16-year-old athletes charged with raping a 16-year-old girl. One of the teens is also charged with having a nude photo of the girl on his cell phone.

Defense lawyer Walter Madison filed a number of motions Friday, including one that asks Visiting Judge Thomas Lipps to order the parties to refer to the Weirton, W.Va., girl at the center of the case as the "accuser" and not the "victim."

"The ultimate question in this case is whether a crime was committed. Only after any such determination can a person be declared a 'victim,' " Madison wrote.

He said to refer to the girl as a victim harms his clients' rights to be presumed innocent and to a fair trial.

Madison also asked that prosecutors be made to "clarify" any agreements they made with three witnesses who testified at an evidentiary hearing in the case and are expected to be key eye witnesses at the trial.

Madison says he believes the witnesses were offered immunity. Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine says they were not.

Letters provided to the lawyers of the three teens say their actions the night of the incident in August did not rise to the level of criminal conduct.

DeWine's office recently said they did not have enough evidence to prosecute the three witnesses on specific charges but did not rule out other charges in the case.

Local law-enforcement officials, including Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla, have said they expect no further charges.

Madison also asked Lipps to "take notice" of a 12-minute Michael Nodianos video that has been the subject of worldwide discussion because of the former Steubenville student's comments about the teen girl involved in the case.

"The world has now seen and heard the repugnant sentiments of Michael Nodianos," Madison wrote in his motion. "Those sentiments have become the sounding board for many protest [sic], discussion, and attention. The Ohio Attorney General and Steubenville Police Chief have previously indicated that those sentiments are not criminal in nature."

Madison asked the judge to take note of the video and its non-criminal nature that included speech that is protected by the Constitution.

In other developments, the DeWine's office has confirmed it is investigating a second rape allegation in Steubenville. The second case reportedly was mentioned Police Chief Bill McCafferty during a taping of the "Dr. Phil" syndicated TV show last week. The second incident occurred in April but was not reported until September, officials said, but they are not commenting on details and whether there is any relation to the August incident.

Also, the Columbus Dispatch reports DeWine's office is offering more assistance to police, sheriffs and prosecutors for help in investigating criminal cases, including the Steubenville case and the police shooting in East Cleveland in November:

Mallory Jean Tenore of Poynter.org notes how the media is offering contrasting coverage of the Steubenville case and the rape and death of a woman in India. Tenore says coverage in the U.S. of the India rape appears more sympathetic to the victim than the coverage of the Steubenville incident:

says the cases in Steubenville and India raise questions about why so many sexual assaults go unreported, and also why bystanders often will do nothing to help a victim. Kim Lonsway, director of research for End Violence Against Women International, says only about 5 to 20 percent of rapes are reported, depending on the population:

With contributions from Cliff Pinckard, The Plain Dealer