Teen footy players guilty of rape

Two former star high school football players break down in tears after judge finds them guilty of raping a 16-year-old girl. Deborah Lutterbeck reports.

TWO members of the high school gridiron team that is the pride of Steubenville, Ohio were found guilty of raping a drunken 16-year-old girl.

The case bitterly divided the Rust Belt city and led to accusations of a cover-up to protect the community's athletes.

Steubenville High School students Trent Mays and Ma'Lik Richmond face a possible sentence of detention in juvenile jail until they turn 21, capping a case that came to light via a barrage of morning-after text messages, social media posts and online photos and video.

Both broke down in tears after the verdict was read.

Mays, 17, and Richmond, 16, were charged with digitally penetrating the West Virginia girl, first in the back seat of a moving car after an alcohol-fueled party on Aug. 11, and then in the basement of a house. Mays was also found guilty on a charge of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material.

The case roiled the community amid allegations that more students should have been charged and led to questions about the influence of the local gridiron team, a source of a pride in a community of 18,000 that suffered massive job losses with the collapse of the steel industry. Their arms linked, protesters stood outside the courthouse on Sunday morning awaiting the verdict, some wearing masks.

The trial opened last week as a contest between prosecutors determined to show the girl was so drunk she couldn't have been a willing participant that night, and defence attorneys soliciting testimony from witnesses that would indicate that the girl, though drunk, knew what she was doing.

Defence attorney Walter Madison, right, holds his client, 16-year-old Ma'lik Richmond, while defence attorney Adam Nemann, left, sits with his client Trent Mays, foreground, 17, as Judge Thomas Lipps pronounces them both guilty of rape and other charges. Picture: AP

The teenage girl testified on Saturday that she could not recall what happened the night of the attack but remembered waking up naked in a strange house after drinking at a party.

The girl said she recalled drinking, leaving the party holding hands with Mays and throwing up later. When she woke up, she said she discovered her phone, earrings, shoes, and underwear were missing, she testified.

"It was really scary," she said. "I honestly did not know what to think because I could not remember anything."

The girl said she believed she was assaulted when she later read text messages among friends and saw a photo of herself taken that night, along with a video that made fun of her and the alleged attack. She said she suspected she had been drugged because she couldn't explain being as intoxicated as defence witnesses have said she was.

"They treated her like a toy," said special prosecutor Marianne Hemmeter.

Evidence introduced at the trial included graphic text messages sent by numerous students after the night of the party, including by the accuser, containing provocative descriptions of sex acts and obscene language.

Gridiron players Trent Mays, 17, left, and co-defendant 16-year-old Ma'lik Richmond have been found guilty of rape in a case that sparked outrage around the world after they texted photographs of their drunk victim.

Lawyers noted during the trial how texts have seemed to replace talking on the phone for contemporary teens. A computer forensic expert called by the state documented tens of thousands of texts found on 17 phones seized during the investigation.

The girl herself recalled being in a car later with Mays and Richmond and asking them what happened.

"They kept telling me I was a hassle and they took care of me," she testified. "I thought I could trust him (Mays) until I saw the pictures and video."

In questioning her account, defence attorneys went after her character and credibility. Two former friends of the girl testified that the accuser had a history of drinking heavily and was known to lie.

"The reality is, she drank, she has a reputation for telling lies," said lawyer Walter Madison, representing Richmond.

The two girls testified they were angry at the accuser because she was drinking heavily at the party and rolling around on the floor. They said they tried unsuccessfully to get her to stop drinking.

Trent Mays, 17, was found guilty of raping a 16-year-old girl in August. Picture: AP

The accuser said that she does not remember being photographed as she was carried by Mays and Richmond, an image that stirred up outrage, first locally, then globally, as it spread online. Others have testified the photo was a joke and the girl was conscious when it was taken.

The photograph led to allegations that three other boys, two of them members of Steubenville High's celebrated Big Red team, saw something happening that night and didn't try to stop it but instead recorded it.

The three boys weren't charged, fueling months of online accusations of a cover-up to protect the team, which law enforcement authorities have vehemently denied.

Instead, the teens were granted immunity to testify, and their accounts helped incriminate the defendants. They said the girl was so drunk she didn't seem to know what was happening to her and confirmed she was digitally penetrated in a car and later on a basement floor.

Ohio's attorney general planned to announce later Sunday whether additional charges will be brought in the case, including against the three other boys.

Mays and Richmond were determined to be delinquent, the juvenile equivalent of guilty, Judge Thomas Lipps ruled in the juvenile court trial without a jury.

The Associated Press normally doesn't identify minors charged in juvenile court, but Mays and Richmond have been widely identified in news coverage, and their names have been used in open court. The AP also does not generally identify people who say they were victims of sex crimes.

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Two dead after jet crashes into homes

A PRIVATE jet has crashed into three homes in Indiana, leaving four dead, and a fuel leak has forced the suburb to evacuate.

The front end of a Hawker Beachcraft Premier jet sits in a room of a home on Iowa Street in South Bend, Indiana. (AP Photo/South Bend Tribune, Mike Hartman) Source: AP

A PRIVATE jet has crashed into three homes in Indiana, leaving two dead, and a fuel leak has forced the evacuation of a suburb.

The Beechcraft Premier I twin-jet had left Tulsa, Oklahoma's Riverside Airport and crashed near South Bend Regional Airport, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Roland Herwig said.

"There was an indication of a mechanical problem," Herwig said.

The scene in South Bend, Indiana ... where the leer jet crashed into three homes. Photo: WSBT-TV Source: Supplied

Herwig said two people on board the plane were killed. There were four people were aboard the jet.

Injuries also resulted from the crash. Some people were taken to local hospitals, Assistant South Bend Fire Chief John Corthier said.

At least three people have been taken to Memorial Hospital, a hospital spokesperson said. Two of those people are in fair condition, one is in serious condition and was undergoing surgery.

South Bend police and fire officials examine a home where a a plane crash occurred near the South Bend Regional Airport in the northern Indiana neighborhood, resulting in injuries and striking three homes. (AP Photo/Joe Raymond) Source: AP

The neighborhood southwest of the airport was evacuated because of a jet fuel leak. Buses were transporting up to 200 people to a nearby shelter, Red Cross volunteer Jackie Lincoln said.

Stan Klaybor, who lives across the street from the crash scene, said the jet clipped the top of one house, heavily damaged a second, and came to rest against a third. Neighbors did not know if a woman living in the most heavily damaged house was home at the time, and a young boy in the third house hurt his forehead but did not appear to be seriously injured, Klaybor said.

His wife, Mary Jane, regularly watches planes approach the airport.

"I was looking out my picture window. The plane's coming, and I go, 'Wait a minute,' and then, boom," she said.

"This one was coming straight at my house. I went, 'Huh?' and then there was a big crash, and all the insulation went flying," she said.

South Bend police and fire officials examine a home where a a plane crash occurred near the South Bend Regional Airport in the northern Indiana neighborhood, resulting in injuries and striking three homes. (AP Photo/Joe Raymond) Source: AP

At a press conference, the South Bend fire chief of training said: "This is now a rescue effort," but the search is dangerous because of structural damage to the house the plane is lodged inside and the jet fuel.

Crews have to stabilise the home before they can proceed with rescue efforts.

There is a mandatory evacuation because of the jet fuel leak from Keller to Elwood along Iowa until at least tomorrow morning. Firefighters are standing by.

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Charges sought over $4m pile-up

Smashed Ferraries on the Chugoku Highway in Shimonoseki, western Japan on December 4, 2011. Picture: Yomiuri Shimbun Source: AFP

POLICE in Japan said Monday they want to charge 10 drivers over a $4 million, multi-car pileup involving eight Ferraris, one Lamborghini and a Mercedes-Benz.

The chain-reaction smash in December 2011 occurred when a convoy of expensive sports cars were on a freeway in Shimonoseki in western Japan, said Yamaguchi prefectural police official Shinji Tanaka.

The driver of the lead Ferrari lost control of his luxury ride and those behind the wheels of nine supercars and three other vehicles failed to apply their brakes in time.

One car driving on the opposite carriageway was also affected.

The Sports Nippon newspaper said around US$4 million (A$3.85 million) worth of damage was done.

Police sent the case against a 61-year-old man and nine others to prosecutors last Thursday on suspicion of violating traffic laws.

The final decision on whether to charge the drivers rests with prosecutors.

Police say 10 drivers, aged between 38 and 61, were exceeding the speed limit or not paying enough attention to the road, Mr Tanaka said.

At the time of the accident, television showed footage of the badly crumpled cars - most of them red - some with airbags deployed after a smash that left six people hurt but killed no one.

"It's rare to see a chain-reaction accident like this involving expensive cars," said Mr Tanaka.

"Some of the drivers told us they didn't really know the specifications of their cars or just how powerful their acceleration was."

The drivers were on their way to a supercar event in Hiroshima.

Police in Japan want to charge 10 drivers over a $4 million pile-up involving eight Ferraris, one Lamborghini and a Mercedes Benz. Picture: Yomiuri Shimbun

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Hacking lawyer claims new conspiracy

Rebekah Brooks, former News International CEO, leaves Westminster Magistrates Court in London in November. A lawyer for hacking victims says police have uncovered a new conspiracy with hundreds of alleged victims. Picture: AP Source: AP

BRITISH investigators have found hundreds more potential phone-hacking victims of the now-defunct News of the World tabloid, a victim's lawyer has said.

Lawyer Hugh Tomlinson made the announcement at Britain's High Court during legal arguments related to the lawsuits against News of the World publisher News International. Mr Tomlinson did not go into much detail, but hundreds of extra victims could translate into millions of extra damages for the UK newspaper company.

The phone hacking scandal has greatly damaged the reputation of the British tabloid press, which has been found to have hacked into the voicemails of celebrities, politicians, crime victims and others. News International has already paid millions of pounds in settlements, and a national outcry forced British politicians to promise action to make the medial more responsible.

At a court hearing yesterday, a lawyer said journalists at The Sun newspaper - another News Interntaional title - harvested data from a lawmaker's stolen phone.

Lawyer David Sherborne said parliamentarian Siobhain McDonagh has accepted substantial but undisclosed damages from the newspaper after her mobile phone was stolen from a parked car in 2010. Her text messages had later been accessed by The Sun, Mr Sherborne said.

News International lawyer Dinah Rose acknowledged that The Sun was guilty of "serious misuse of her private information".

The revelations of new victims came only hours after British politicians announced they struck a last-minute deal over press regulation, unveiling a new code meant to curb the worst abuses of the country's scandal-tarred media.

The code follows days of heated debate over how to implement the recommendations of Lord Justice Brian Leveson, who held an inquiry that aimed to clean up a newspaper industry plunged into crisis by revelations of widespread phone hacking.

Victims' groups have lobbied for an independent watchdog whose powers are enshrined in law but media groups have said that threatens press freedom.

The deal struck yesterday appears to be a complicated compromise.

"I think we have got an agreement which protects the freedom of the press, that is incredibly important in a democracy, but also protects the rights of people not to have their lives turned upside down," senior opposition leader Harriet Harman told broadcaster ITV.

Unlike the UK's widely discredited Press Complaints Commission, which barely bothered to investigate allegations of phone hacking before the scandal broke, the new regulator being proposed by politicians would be independent of the media and would have the power to force newspapers to print prominent apologies.

Submitting to the regulatory regime would be optional, but media groups staying outside the system could risk substantial fines if they get stories wrong.

And rather than being established through a new press law, which advocates of Britain's media have described as unacceptable, the regulatory body would be created through a Royal Charter, a kind of executive order whose history stretches back to medieval times. Adding to the complexity, a law would be passed to prevent ministers from tweaking the system after the fact.

Ms Harman acknowledged that the charter was "quite a sort of complex and old-fashioned thing" but said it "kind of more or less ... has got legal basis."

Victims' group Hacked Off said it believes the deal will go a long way toward preserving press freedom and protecting the public from fresh abuses. The groups said it remained concerned about how newspaper groups would be cajoled into joining.

News International is owned by News Corporation, which also owns the parent company of this publication.
 

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Maid sentenced to death for girl's murder

An Indonesian maid will be put to death after she was convicted of killing her employers' four-year old. Twenty-five Indonesian maids are on death row in Saudi Arabia. Picture: AFP/Hassan Ammar Source: AFP

A SAUDI court sentenced an Indonesian housemaid to death after she was convicted of murdering her employers' four-year-old child, the Saudi Gazette reported.

The maid was "charged with decapitating the girl with a cleaver when her parents were away at work and her sisters were at school," the newspaper reported, adding that the woman's lawyer will file an appeal.

The court on Sunday sentenced to death an "Indonesian housemaid who was found guilty of murdering Tala Al-Shehri, a four-year-old girl, in (the Red Sea city of) Yanbu last September," the English-language Saudi Gazette reported.

The woman was also handed down an eight-month jail term and 200 lashes for attempted suicide after committing the horrific crime, it said.

The victim's parents have refused to forgive the maid in return for blood money, the daily said.

The maid's lawyer, appointed by the Indonesian mission in Riyadh, said that the consulate will initiate legal action in Jakarta against a man who the newspaper said had convinced, via text messages, the woman to commit the crime.

In April last year, local media reported that 25 Indonesian maids are on death row in Saudi Arabia and 22 others have been pardoned and sent home.

In June, 2011, Indonesian maid Ruyati binti Sapubi, 54, was beheaded after she was convicted of killing her Saudi employer, prompting Indonesia to recall its ambassador in Saudi Arabia for "consultations."

Indonesian anger over the treatment of its manual labourers in the oil-rich Gulf monarchy has grown after a spate of cases of abuse and killings.

Indonesia had also announced a moratorium on sending migrant workers to Saudi Arabia, where hundreds of thousands of Indonesians toil as maids and labourers.

Rights groups say millions of mostly Asian domestic workers are regularly exposed to physical and financial abuse in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states because of poor or non-existent labour laws.

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Weapons, explosives in uni dorm

Police investigate at the University of Central Florida in Orlando after explosive devices were found by authorities investigating the apparent suicide of in a dorm. Picture: AP Source: AP

AUTHORITIES investigating an apparent suicide discovered weapons and explosive devices in a dorm on the University of Central Florida campus in Orlando, and hundreds of students were evacuated, though the school said there was no immediate threat.

University police were called to the dorm around 12.20am (3.20pm AEDT) after a fire alarm went off, UCF spokesman Grant Heston said. While they were on their way to the scene, a 911 call came in about a man with a gun.

Arriving officers found a man dead from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside a residence at the Tower 1 dorm.

Mr Heston said the dorm has suites, with a main kitchen and living area, along with four bedrooms. The dead man was inside one of the rooms. Inside the room, police also found an assault weapon, a handgun and improvised explosive devices.

Mr Heston said the Orange County Sheriff's Office and the FBI are helping with the investigation. The sheriff's bomb squad was examining the explosive devises Monday morning.

About 500 students were evacuated from the dorm and an adjacent parking garage was closed.

"We don't believe there is any imminent threat to the campus," Mr Heston said.

University of Central Florida students wait outside the college sports arena after explosive devices were found in a nearby dorm. Hundreds of students were evacuated. Picture: AP

The university canceled classes through noon Monday as a precaution.

Officials have not said whether the dead man was a university student.

A statement on the university's website said the UCF Arena would open to accommodate displaced students. Counselors would be available to talk to students who need assistance.

A spokeswoman for State University System Chancellor Frank Brogan said he was called this morning by UCF President John Hitt and told about the situation unfolding on campus.

"As far as we know no other students are in danger," spokeswoman Kim Wilmath said.

Readers struggling with depression can contact suicide prevention line Lifeline Australia on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue at 1300 22 4636.

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Lanza 'plotted attack for years'

Members of the Rutter family embrace early Christmas morning as they stand near memorials by the Sandy Hook firehouse in Newtown, Connecticut. Picture: AP Source: AP

ADAM Lanza kept a massive spread sheet with body counts from previous mass murders, and was determined to get the highest 'score', police say.

Lanza, who killed 20 primary school children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14, 2012, carefully planned the massacre for years and based his attack and suicide on violent video games, police believe.

Searching Lanza's home, investigators found a 7 foot long by 4 foot wide (2.13 metre by 1.23 metre) spreadsheet listing body counts, names and weapons used in previous mass shootings, the Daily News reports.

"It had to have taken years," a law enforcement source said. "It sounded like a doctoral thesis, that was the quality of the research."

"They don't believe this was just a spread sheet. They believe it was a score sheet," he said.

The new details emerged from Connecticut State Police officer Danny Stebbins' talk to cops at the International Association of Police Chiefs and Colonels meeting in New Orleans last week.

"This was the work of a video gamer, and that it was his intent to put his own name at the very top of that list. They believe that he picked an elementary school because he felt it was a point of least resistance, where he could rack up the greatest number of kills," a police officer who heard the talk said.

Gunman Adam Lanza planned the attack for years, keeping careful records of previous mass shootings on a large spreadsheet. Picture: AP

Police believe Lanza killed himself after his rampage to stop police from "taking his points".

"In the code of a gamer, even a deranged gamer like this little bastard, if somebody else kills you, they get your points. They believe that's why he killed himself."

Police also said the killer stopped and reloaded before moving from room to room - a tactic they believe he learned from video games.

Investigators also found photos from two years ago of Lanza posing with weapons strapped to his body, pointing a gun to his head, indicating he had planned the attack for years. The killer had covered his bedroom windows with dark plastic to block out the light.

And police believe his mother Nancy - his first victim - had been buying Lanza guns for years, turning a blind eye to his growing obsession.

Some emergency workers who first responded to the shooting scene at Sandy Hook have since quit, overwhelmed by what they witnessed.

A boy waits near a church before the memorial service for teacher Lauren Rousseau, 30, who was killed by Adam Lanza in the school massacre. Picture: AP/Seth Wenig

"The amazing thing is, as much of a tragedy at it was, it really could have been much worse. Those teachers, the whole school, they did everything they could….Despite the great loss of lives, they did save lives by acting the way they did," the police source told the Daily News.
 

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Man found dead in airport lift shaft

Chad Wolfe, 31, disappeared at Tampa International Airport on Thursday night and was found dead in an airport elevator shaft the following morning. Picture: James Morgan

THE family of a US man whose body was found in an airport lift shaft believe the airport was negligent.

Chad Wolfe, 31, from Pennsylvania, flew with Delta Airlines from Pittsburgh to Tampa on Thursday, arriving shortly before midnight, wptv.com reports. He was travelling with his girlfriend of ten years, Jessica.

Investigators say Wolfe entered an elevator on the third floor of the main terminal at Tampa International Airport soon after midnight Friday and rode to the seventh floor and short-term parking garage. His carry-on bag was later found on the seventh floor.

Airport police say Wolfe pried the elevator doors open and fell to his death, but his father Garland has said he finds that hard to believe, given his son's slight frame.

Wolfe's girlfriend has said he had a drink and a Xanax in order to cope with flying. She claims she told him to wait on the main concourse while she claimed their baggage and reported him missing to police when she could not find him.

Around 3am, airport maintenance workers reported a lift adjacent to the one caught by Wolfe had stopped working.

Wolfe's body was discovered by maintenance workers around 10am Friday.

The medical examiner has taken possession of Wolfe's body and is working to determine a cause of death.
 

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