Photo: AP Media Pool Steubenville Trial March 2013
Today Ma’lik Richmond and Trent Mays were supposed to find out what classification of sexual predator they would have to register as before being moved to a rehab facility as part of their sentences for the August 2012 rape of a 16 year old girl.
Richmond’s hearing was given a continuance with no explanation from Judge Thomas Lipps or comment from his attorney Walter Madison. The sexual predator classification is necessary in order for both teens to be transferred to a juvenile sex offender rehabilitation facility.
Both Mays and Richmond have been said to be behaving themselves and responding to treatment thus far while incarcerated.
Mays is looking forward to a transfer according to his attorney: “Our client looks forward to the opportunity to attend the Paint Creek program, follow all the facility rules, and display to the Court and the community that he has been rehabilitated fully in hopes of returning to his family,” Columbus attorney Brian Duncan said in a statement.
However being teen sex offenders doesn’t have the same consequences as adult sex offenders. Mays and Richmond’s names won’t show up on national website databases and based on their history of rehabilitation, the boys can later petition the court to have their sexual predator classification removed.
The defense tried getting Judge Lipps to classify Mays as tier 1 citing he is trying to better himself.
Jane Doe’s mother spoke at the hearing reminding the court that “Mays publicly shamed her daughter, and that ridicule will never leave her daughter.” Mays addressed the court in the same zombie like manner in which he addressed Jane Doe’s family at the trial: “I am sorry for everything I did that night I know I was wrong.”
The state sought a Tier 3 classification citing that Mays showed no remorse for his crime during an assessment before treatment. They also cited the mental harm done to the victim, and the gross nature of the crime.
Judge Lipps however deemed Mays as a Tier 2 sex offender which according to Ohio Law a Tier 2 offender “includes those who have been convicted of offenses such as gross sexual imposition with a victim under 13 years old, pandering sexually oriented material involving a minor, and unlawful sexual conduct with a minor when the offender is four or more years older than the victim. Adult offenders must register every 180 days for 25 years; juvenile offenders must register for 20 years.”
Mays is now eligible for transfer to the Pine Creek Rehabilitation facility pending acceptance for admission.
We will keep you updated as Ma’lik Richmond still has to appear in court for a sexual predator classification.
