Ma’lik Richmond is back on the Steubenville HS football team.
Richmond, one of the two teens convicted in the explosive rape case in city along the Ohio River, practiced with the team on Monday as a wide receiver.
“I feel that we’re really not giving him a second chance. Some may look at it like that,” Reno Saccoccia, Steubenville’s head football coach, told Columbus’ Fox 28. “I feel like he’s earned a second chance.”
Richmond and quarterback Trent Mays were convicted in the case involving the rape of a 16-year-old girl at a August 2012 party. Richmond served nine months in a juvenile detention facility before being released in January. Mays is still serving a two-year sentence.
“There’s no law against it that states he can’t play. There’s no OSHA rules that they’d be violating,” Fred Abdalla Jr., Jefferson County’s chief probation officer told WTRF, which broke the story of Richmond’s return.
“I think the boy should be allowed to play,” Abdalla Jr. added. “Ma’lik Richmond has done everything that’s been asked of him from the court’s standpoint since he’s been sentenced.”
Richmond was found delinquent of rape and will have to register as a Tier II sex offender every 180 days for the next 20 years.
“Everything the judicial system of Ohio asked him to do he completed. Everything the school system asked him to do upon his release, he completed – both academically and socially,” Saccoccia told Fox-28.
According to the Ohio High School Athletic Association, decisions about player eligibility are left up the schools when it comes to off-the-field matters.
“In this particular situation, as horrible as it is, we are bound by the bylaws,” Tim Stried, OHSAA director of informational services, told Fox 28.
While Richmond, by all accounts, is fully eligible to return to Steubenville’s football team, some were hoping the school would make a larger statement by taking a stand against rape culture in the Rust Belt city. Alexandra Goddard, a blogger who is credited to bringing attention to the case, said the decision to re-instate Richmond was not a surprise.
“I wanted to be shocked, but I think we all knew it was bound to happen,” Goddard wrote in an email to BuzzFeed.
“Steubenville City Schools hasn’t really done a lot in the past two years to prove to the world that they don’t tolerate rape culture and allowing a Tier II registered sex offender on the team pretty much solidifies the assumption that they are concerned about wins rather than the safety of young girls or the destruction of rape culture in their area.”
An Ohio football power, nine-time state champion Steubenville opens its season on August 28 against Cleveland’s John F. Kennedy HS.
“I’ve thought about that, hard, and I’m on board with that decision,” Saccoccia said of Richmond’s return. “He’s one of 55 players that are in good standing with their teammates and their coaches who have the same opportunity as any other player.”
