Blogger who saved images follows Steubenville rape trial closely

Two teenagers are standing trial in an Eastern Ohio town for the rape of a 16-year-old girl.

Over the course of the night the girl was allegedly sexually assaulted by the two high school football players. She told her friends afterwards she didn’t remember anything. But photos had been shared over social media of some of the night’s events.

The case has riveted the small city of Steubenville amid allegations that more students should have been charged and led to questions about the influence of the local football team, a source of a pride in a community that suffered massive job losses with the collapse of the steel industry.

Alexandra Goddard blogs at prinniedfied.com, and reposted many of the photos that had been shared over social media before the teens took them down.

“I’m not at the trial due to some safety concerns,” Goddard told KIRO Radio’s Luke Burbank.

Goddard settled a lawsuit out of court with a family who filed a defamation lawsuit over a number of online statements, in her blog, and from anonymous commenters reading her blog, related to crime.

She’s a crime blogger who used to live in Steubenville – and she took an early interest in the case. On Thursday, the trial continued for the second day.

Much of the trial hinges on witness testimony. It wasn’t clear to Goddard whether prosecutors would use any of the material scrubbed from social media, but documented on her blog, at trial.

But many agree, once this video surfaced, it was hard to deny that a crime had happened.

The football players’ trial began Wednesday as a contest between prosecutors insisting the girl was too drunk to consent to sex and defense attorneys portraying her as someone who was intoxicated but still in control of her actions.

The two players, Trent Mays and Ma’Lik Richmond, maintain their innocence.

Special Judge Thomas Lipps is hearing the case without a jury.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.