By Chris Togneri
Published: Saturday, March 16, 2013, 3:18 p.m.
Updated 2 hours ago
A professor of clinical psychology who specializes in alcohol's effects on cognitive behavior testified Saturday that the 16-year-old Weirton, W. Va. girl who was allegedly raped by two high school football stars likely had a blood alcohol level between .18 and .25.
Kim Fromme, a professor of clinical psychology and director of the Studies on Alcohol, Health, and Risky Activities at the University of Texas at Austin, said such levels mean the victim likely blacked out during the night of drinking, but probably did not pass out. People pass out when blood alcohol levels reach .32 and higher, she said. The legal limit to drive in all 50 states is a blood alcohol level of .08.
Trent Mays, 17, and Ma'lik Richmond, 16, are charged with raping the intoxicated victim. The boys deny involvement. Their attorneys say the girl never lost consciousness or the ability to make decisions.
The Tribune-Review does not identify victims of rape.
When a person blacks out, they retain the ability to function and make decisions but do not remember anything later, Fromme said.
On cross-examination, Fromme said the victim's ability to think was impaired. She also acknowledged that she did not estimate the victim's blood alcohol level based on testimony that the victim took at least five shots of 70-proof vodka straight from a bottle.
Earlier on Saturday, a former friend of the victim in a juvenile rape case testified that the girl had a reputation for lying and drinking.
Gianna Anile, a schoolmate of the victim, said she stopped talking to the victim shortly after a series of drunken parties attended by many teens in August.
“I was upset with her actions,� Anile said, explaining that the victim drank heavily that night and pushed her friends away when they tried to stop her from leaving a party with two Steubenville High football players. “I was yelling at her (the following morning).�
Anile testified for the defense. Prosecutors have not rested their case, but the judge allowed her to testify out of order because she is from out of state.
Anile could not remember many details from the night. She answered “I can't recall,� to dozens of questions.
Jean Philippe Rigaud, who now works for the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations, said the victim told him that she blacked out at a party the night of Aug. 11 and awoke naked in a basement the next morning. She left the house without finding her underwear, phone, a pair of earrings or flip flops, Rigaud testified. Later, she recovered her footwear, but nothing else.
During Rigaud's investigation, a friend of the accused teens, Mark Cole, 17, told him that he had shot video of the first alleged assault, which occurred in a car while the teens drove from one party to another. Cole told him he erased it from his phone, Rigaud said. Officials could not retrieve the deleted file.
Anthony Craig, 18, a friend of the defendants who was granted immunity in exchange for his testimony, testified that he saw part of the video. In it, he said, Mays pulled down the victim's shirt and exposed her breasts.
Craig said he later took a photo of Mays and Richmond performing sex acts on the passed-out, naked girl as she lay on the floor and others looked on, but did not try to intervene
“She wasn't moving. She wasn't talking. She wasn't participating,� Craig said.
In earlier testimony, a state computer forensics specialist said she recovered tens of thousands of text messages from confiscated phones from people who attended the parties.
Mays sent text messages to some friends denying he had sex with the girl, but boasted to others that he did, even though the girl was drunk and semiconscious. Two days after the alleged attack, Mays sent the victim's father a text message claiming his innocence, JoAnn Gibb, a forensics expert for the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations, testified.
“This is all a misunderstanding,� Mays wrote. “I never tried to do anything forcefully with your daughter.�
The victim, meanwhile, told friends she couldn't remember much of the night. Friends sent texts asking if she was OK and told her of the rumors that she had been raped. The Tribune-Review does not identify victims of sex assault.
Visiting Judge Thomas Lipps, a retired Hamilton County Juvenile Court judge, called a recess so attorneys could replay statements she made to police months ago to refresh her memory.
Lipps seems determined to hear the case in as few days as possible. Testimony Friday lasted 13 ½ hours and Lipps said Saturday's session could go as late as 11 p.m.
Officials said 40 witnesses are expected to testify. The 23rd witness, a former Steubenville D.A.R.E. officer who initially investigated the rape claims, was the last witness Friday night.
The case sparked outrage and drew international attention in the fall after an online “hacktivist� group called Anonymous published incendiary evidence online, including a photo of the suspects carrying the girl by her ankles and wrists.
Protesters wearing masks, the symbol of Anonymous, gathered outside the justice center during the first two days of testimony and vowed to return until Lipps returns a verdict.
Chris Togneri is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at ctogneri@tribweb.com.
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