Rapid City, South Dakota — Six teenagers on a South Dakota American Legion baseball team were charged as adults in a rape case last summer, but they have now agreed to plead guilty.
KELO-TV reported that three players from the Mitchell-based team pleaded guilty to being an accessory to a crime last month, and three more did the same thing on Monday. There is a chance that all six players will spend up to five years in jail next month.
Lawyers for both sides refused to talk about the case.
When they were first charged, the players, who were 17 to 19 years old, were charged with second-degree rape and helping to commit second-degree rape.
South Dakota law says that minors aged 16 and up who are charged with these crimes must be tried as adults. However, prosecutors say the minors can try to have their cases moved to juvenile court.
Prosecutors say the girls were 16 years old when they were raped at a tournament in Rapid City in June of last year.
It is not known what happened with the other three players who were charged in youth court.
Source: AP