Steubenville Rape Case Update: Trent Mays, convicted of raping teen, ordered to register as sex offender

(CBS/AP) Steubenville, Ohio - A former Steubenville High School football player who was convicted in juvenile court of raping a 16-year-old girl must register as a sex offender every six months for the next 20 years, a judge ruled Friday, CBS affiliate WTRF reports.

PICTURES: Steubenville Rape Trial

An Ohio judge, Thomas Lipps, ruled that 17-year-old Trent Mays must register as a "Tier II" sex offender. At Friday's hearing, the state asked for a stricter "Tier III" sex offender designation, citing mental harm to the teen victim. The state also argued that Mays showed no remorse or understanding of his actions in an assessment after his conviction, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.

The victim's mother also pleaded with the judge for the stricter designation, which would require Mays to register as a sex offender every three months for the rest of his life.

"My child's name and face will forever remain attached to his crime because of his actions," she said, reading a prepared statement. "Since this crime, she has endured countless ridiculing comments from all public avenues that has caused her great pain and stress. This will never leave my daughter, therefore it should never leave him."

Mays also spoke in court Friday, WTRF reported, saying, "I am sorry for everything I did that night. I know I was wrong."

Unlike adult sex offenders, however, the teens' names won't be included on publicly accessible websites. And the teens can request to be removed later based on their history of rehabilitation.

Mays' defense reportedly argued that he has demonstrated good behavior at his juvenile detention facility and aims to better himself. He is scheduled to be re-located from the detention facility to the Lighthouse Youth Center at Paint Creek, a residential rehabilitation center with a program for sex offenders, in about a week, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.

A hearing for another former football player convicted in the same case, Ma'Lik Richmond, was reportedly continued after being scheduled for Friday.

Judge Lipps sentenced Mays and Richmond, 16, to time in the juvenile detention system in March. He convicted them of raping a West Virginia girl after an August party celebrating a successful football team scrimmage. Richmond was sentenced to at least one year for raping the girl, while Mays was sentenced to at least two for raping her and taking a picture of the underage girl naked.

The case received international attention largely because of the role of texting and social media in exposing the attack.

Complete coverage of the Steubenville Rape Case on Crimesider