As defense lawyers try to have the case dismissed against Trent Mays and Ma’lik Richmond due to a West Virginia judge refusing to order Jane Doe’s friends to testify in a Steubenville Ohio case, The town of Steubenville held a press conference one day before the trials begin.
The last time Steubenville held a press conference was on January 5, 2013 to announce the launch of Steubenvillefacts.org, a unhackable website where the town would fight back against the “misinformation spread by anonymous and the media as it pertained to the Steubenville case. The website offered no facts in the case, and was promptly hacked by @nazigods and taken offline within minutes of the announcement. City Manager Cathy Davison swore the website was run by the city, but the website is actually owned and maintained by a mysetery company in Arizona.
Such facts on the Steubenville website mark Blogger, Lee Stranahan as the city’s voice and the only person calling the story of Steubenville Right. Stranahan spent some time in Steubenville at the expense of residents, and tried mobilizing the town to use social media against anonymous and the mainstream media prompting questions on Stranahan’s objectivity in reporting the case.
Today’s press conference held by Steubenville Police Chief Bill Mcafferty, City Manager Cath Davison, “community leader” and business owner Jerry Barilla, and Jefferson County Chamber Director Sue Hershey addressed media in a closed session pointing out how wonderful the town of Steubenville is, and how the city has been under attack since day one. The group went on to scold media for only focusing on the poor sections of town in their broadcasts, and how this is all of social media and anonymous’s fault.
strangely enough promised live streams from local tv stations went dark before the press conference, so those at home or abroad could not watch.
On Monday night, Spiritual leaders came together for a prayer service calling for peace and unity throughout the Ohio Valley. Pastor Foster of Christ’s Community Church addressed the congregation: “Some of the media are here listening and waiting to hear something about the rape trial, the shootings and drug activity in our city. We can say the steel mills are long gone. There are shootings and rape. And we can say the last person to leave should turn out the lights. But we can say Lord we don’t have the answer, but Lord you know the answers.”
Twitter was in a flurry of messages between Jane Doe supporters, last minute planning for rallies set to last through out the trial, discussions on the new information Mobile Broadcast News obtained yesterday, and messages of love, support and places to stay and eat while in Steubenville.
There were also countless conveyances of frustration with the way this case has been handled, and how angry folk will be if the charges are dismissed, or if the defendants only get probabtion.
Ma’lik Richmond and Trent Mays also sat down with 20/20 which will air on March 22 in which they and thier lawyers claim all of the photos of the victim in a state on undress and unconsciousness being dragged by her arms and legs are nothing more than a joke with all parties involded in the pics and vids knowing it was a joke.
A standing Silent rally is planned on the Jefferson County Courthouse steps by anonymous tomorrow at 11 AM, the Trial of Trent Mays and Ma’lik Richmond will begin at 10:30 AM, with the judge expected to rule on the motion to dismiss
