CNN broke the news on Sunday of a guilty verdict in a rape case in Steubenville, Ohio by lamenting that the \u201cpromising\u201d lives of the rapists had been ruined, but spent very little time focusing on how the 16-year-old victim would have to live with what was done to her.<\/p>\n
Judge Thomas Lipps announced on Sunday that Trent Mays, 17, and Ma\u2019lik Richmond, 16, would be given a maximum sentence after being found guilty of raping a 16-year-old girl while she was unconscious. Richmond could be released from a juvenile rehabilitation facility by the age of 21 and Mays could be incarcerated until the age of 24.<\/p>\n
CNN\u2019s Candy Crowley began her breaking news report by showing Lipps handing down the sentence and telling CNN reporter Poppy Harlow that she \u201ccannot imagine\u201d how emotional the sentencing must have been.<\/p>\n
Harlow explained that it had been \u201cincredibly difficult\u201d to watch \u201cas these two young men \u2014 who had such promising futures, star football players, very good students \u2014 literally watched as they believed their life fell apart.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the young men, Ma\u2019lik Richmond, as that sentence came down, he collapsed,\u201d the CNN reporter recalled, adding that the convicted rapist told his attorney that \u201cmy life is over, no one is going to want me now.\u201d<\/p>\n
At that point, CNN played video of Richmond crying and hugging his lawyer in the courtroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was sitting about three feet from Ma\u2019lik when he gave that statement,\u201d Harlow said. \u201cIt was very difficult to watch.\u201d <\/p>\n