VIDEO: CNN Reporters Feel Awful For Convicted Rapists

If you’re unfamiliar with the case of two high school football players from Steubenville, Ohio who were recently accused of raping an unconscious 16-year old girl throughout an alcohol-fueled evening, you can get a pretty great idea of how awful this story is from yesterday’s Yahoo! report. For the short version, though, the two boys were declared guilty yesterday, and they were handed a relatively light sentence in the face of some horrible accusations.

Judge Thomas Lipps ruled Sunday in juvenile court that Steubenville High School students Trent Mays and Ma’Lik Richmond are guilty of attacking the girl after an alcohol-fueled party last August.

The 17-year-old Mays and 16-year-old Richmond were charged with digitally penetrating the West Virginia girl, first in a car and then in a house.

Judge Tom Lipps ordered Richmond held in a juvenile detention facility for at least one year and Mays at least two years. The juvenile system could hold them until age 21. Both were required to register as juvenile sex offenders. (NBC News)

However, if you chose to watch CNN’s Candy Crowley deliver the breaking verdict news yesterday, you may have been under the impression that the boys were the actual victim. In fact, Crowley and reporter Poppy Harlow went to great lengths to discuss just how horrible this is for the two boys who were convicted of committing sexual acts on a girl who was passed out and in need of serious medical attention.

Perhaps they’ll get around to discussing the victim tomorrow, right after their 30-minute special, “Ted Bundy and the Apologies He Deserves”.