Six teenage South Dakota baseball players pleaded not guilty this week to charges that they raped two 16-year-old boys earlier this summer while their team was in Rapid City for a tournament.
In August, a Pennington County grand jury charged Hudson Haley, 18; Karter Sibson, 17; Carter Miller, 18; Lincoln Bates, 18; Peyton Mandel, 17; and Landon Waddell, 19; with second degree rape and aiding and abetting second degree rape against one of the victims, according to the Rapid City Journal. Haley faces an additional count of rape against the second victim, and Waddell was charged with aiding and abetting rape against the second victim.
Sibson and Mandel will be tried as adults in the case, per state law. Three other juveniles are charged in juvenile court, the Pennington County State’s Attorney’s Office said. Those charges have not been disclosed.
At the hearing, Circuit Judge Robert Gusinsky granted a motion for Mandel to attend school as long as he does not attend classes with the victim, who attends the same school, KOTA reported. Mandel is allowed to play basketball and can attend extracurricular events, but the victim has priority. Gusinsky said Mandel will have to stay 100 feet away from the victim at activities and 30 feet away during school.
Another judge had approved similar motions for Haley and Miller. Gulinsky also granted a modification to Waddell’s bond to allow him to travel with his family over the holidays.
The six teens played for the Mitchell Post 18 American Legion team, which was suspended when allegations of misconduct surfaced this summer. The state’s attorney’s office said it is still considering charges against adults involved with the team who are alleged to have known about the attacks and failed to properly report them, the Journal said.
“We’re still working through it all,” said state’s attorney Lara Roetzel.
Roetzel told NewsNation that the Mitchell baseball association initially handled the case as a “hazing ritual,” and that it was eventually handed over to state investigators because of possible connections between local law enforcement and the baseball association.
“I also think it’s very important for people to understand that I do not think that this was an isolated incident within the Mitchell Legion baseball team. I do believe that this was a culture of repeated behavior that had been going on for possibly years,” she said.
“It’s really frightening to me that they were characterizing it as hazing because you know, hazing connotates something entirely different,” she added.”And this is not that. This is an actual act of sexual assault, not hazing or association.”
The judge told Haley and Waddell that they face 150 years in prison and up to a $150,000 fine if they’re convicted in court. The other four could face up to 100 years in prison and a $100,000 fine, the Journal said.
The six defendants have all been released on bond and are due back in court in February.
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[Featured image: Lincoln Bates, Hudson Haley, Landon Waddell, and Carter Miller/Pennington County Sheriff’s Office]
