An Ohio teenager accused of livestreaming the rape of her 17-year-old friend has pleaded not guilty to multiple charges stemming from the alleged February incident.
Eighteen-year-old Marina Lonina — a student at New Albany High School, outside Columbus — was attempting to record the assault as evidence, the woman’s attorney, Sam Shamansky said during a court appearance Friday.
“She’s in the habit of filming everything with this app called Periscope — does, in fact, film this encounter,” Shamansky said, according to ABC affiliate WSYX. “She does everything possible to contain the situation even to the point of asking while it’s being filmed to these Periscope followers, ‘What should I do now? What should I do now?’”
A judge set Lonina’s bond at $125,000.
Her co-defendant, 29-year-old Raymond Gates, also pleaded not guilty and his bond was set at $300,000, according to CBS News.
The pair has been charged with rape, kidnapping, sexual battery and pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor, according to NBC affiliate WCMH-TV. If convicted, each faces up to 40 years in prison.
Lonina was also charged with illegal use of a minor in a nudity-oriented material or performance, the Associated Press reported.
Lonina and the 17-year-old victim — friends who attended the same high school — met Gates at a mall while they were shopping, Shamansky said. He bought them a bottle of vodka and encouraged them to meet the next day, which the victim wanted to do, he said.
“My client is along for the ride, so to speak,” Shamansky added, according to WSYX.
They were drinking at Gates’ home in Columbus on Feb. 27 when he began to sexually assault the 17-year-old and Lonina began livestreaming the violence using Periscope, Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien said, according to NBC affiliate WCMH.
A police report cited by WCMH accused Gates of holding the victim down using the weight of his body while assaulting her.
The report also says teenager can be heard screaming “No, it hurts so much”; “Please stop”; and “Please, no” multiple times.
On Friday, O’Brien disputed the idea that Lonina was acting in the best interest of the victim when she began filming the assault, according to WCMH. Initially, he said, she thought her actions would prevent the assault. But, he added: “She got caught up in the ‘likes.’”
“I have never seen a case such as this where you would actually livestream a sexual assault,” he said. “Based on the video that I saw it didn’t appear for the most part of it that she was attempting to help the victim.”
A night earlier, O’Brien noted, Lonina had also taken an illicit photo of the girl.
O’Brien said authorities became aware of the incident when a friend of the victim saw the images and alerted police.
Shamansky told the courtroom that his client is an ordinary teenager who was taken advantage of by a predatory adult.
“She’s a good kid,” Shamansky said, according to WSYX. “She’s a senior in high school. Comes from a fine family and is the furthest thing from a rapist .. The rapist was in court and it was not my client.”
On its website, Periscope — a Twitter-owned app for smartphones that uses video for streaming — is described as “the closest thing to teleportation.”
“A picture may be worth a thousand words, but live video can take you someplace and show you around,” the description says.
Periscope did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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