Because football players, especially in a “Football Town”, are protected and privileged persons; celebrities.
The football stars get their grades padded so they stay illegible to play, when they break the rules punish is light or non-existent, even violent crimes can be overlooked for high school and college athletes (no admittance to the hospital no foul).
I really believe that these young men have been conditioned probably since middle school that they are untouchables that can do no wrong. They believed that they could do whatever they wanted and no one would do anything about it because they always had in the past. I saw it when I went to school and I saw it when my kids went to school.
STEUBENVILLE - Everyone involved in the rape case against two Steubenville High School student-athletes said it should be used as a life lesson for parents and teenagers.
Visiting Juvenile Judge Thomas Lipps found Trent Mays, 17, of Bloomingdale and Ma’Lik Richmond, 16, of Steubenville guilty Sunday of rape in connection with an incident involving an underage girl Aug. 11-12. Mays also was found delinquent of a charge of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material for having a picture of the 16-year-old victim in an outgoing text message on his cell phone.
The non-jury trial at the Jefferson County Justice Center lasted four days, with testimony ending Saturday evening.
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(Read above link for the rest of the story.)