STEUBENVILLE - A probable cause hearing for two juveniles charged with an August rape was continued this morning until Oct. 12 after lawyers with the state attorney general's office said they needed more time to prepare evidence.
The two Steubenville High School students and athletes have been lodged in the juvenile detention center since they were arrested on Aug. 22.
Police began an investigation after parents came to the police station on Aug. 14 to report a sexual assault involving their daughter.
Trent Mays, 16, of Bloomingdale is charged with one count of rape, one count of kidnapping and one count of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material. Ma'lik Richmond, 16, of Steubenville was charged with one count of rape and one count of kidnapping.
Prosecutors are seeking to have the juveniles bound over to common pleas court and tried as adults.
Marianne Hemmeter and Jennifer Brumby of the Ohio Attorney General's Crimes Against Children unit have been appointed as special assistant prosecutors after Jefferson County Prosecutor Jane Hanlin stepped aside in the case.
Judge Thomas Raymond Lipps, a retired Hamilton County juvenile judge, was appointed by the Ohio Supreme Court to preside over the case after Jefferson County Juvenile Judge Sam Kerr recused himself.
Mays is a quarterback on the Steubenville High School football team and also is a wrestler. Richmond is a wide receiver on football team and also was a member of the school's basketball and track and field teams.
Steubenville City Schools Superintendent Mike McVey said any student arrested is suspended from all extracurricular activities including sports.
City Police confiscated cell phones and are waiting for the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation to complete work to see if there is any evidence pertaining to the case on the phones.
