One Of The Steubenville Rapists Has Been Freed After 9 Months [View all]

Ma’lik Richmond, one of the two young football players who was found “delinquent” of having raped a young girl in Steubenville, OH, last year, has been freed from his sentence at a juvenile detention facility. Though the sentence was supposed to carry a minimum of one year in detention, Richmond got out early on good behavior. He served nine months.

Over the course of the trial last Spring, Richmond was portrayed by the media as a sympathetic character — a boy whose “life had read like a script from the movie ‘The Blind Side,’” according to one flattering ABC profile, and was now ruined. At the time, Richmond’s lawyer, Walter Madison, played up the sympathetic aspect as well, stressing that Richmond struggled in his home life and that a conviction would make him have to answer “at 75 years old… for something they did at 16 when scientific evidence would support your brain isn’t fully developed.”

Upon his release Sunday, Richmond’s lawyer again put out a statement asking for sympathy and stressing how much Richmond’s life had been altered. “The past sixteen months have been extremely challenging for Ma’Lik and his extended family,” Madison said. “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.” The statement did not mention the rape victim.

The Steubenville rape case is far from over. Trent Mays, Richmond’s accomplice in the rape, remains in detention where he is serving a two year sentence. And several adults are also now under investigation or have been arrested for helping to cover up the assault.