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Steubenville School Workers Plead Not Guilty

STEUBENVILLE, Ohio (KDKA) - Michael McVey is accustomed to media scrutiny as Steubenville's now-suspended Superintendent of schools.

But sitting in a courtroom as a defendant was new.

He faces charges including obstruction of justice and tampering with evidence.

Few specifics have been revealed about the government's case but after looking at the indictment, his attorney, Charles Bean, was not impressed.

"This was an investigation that went nine months and this is all they have?" he asked reporters.

He also opposed a gag order proposed by prosecutors against defendant Matt Bellardine, a volunteer football coach accused of hosting an underage drinking party unrelated to the rape case involving football players. McVey's lawyer thinks that could affect all defendants.

"We oppose the gag order because the attorney general has held news conferences, he has put out all kinds of press releases and so forth to talk about this case and then comes back and is asking us not to talk about it at all," said Bean.

Attorney Dennis McNamara represented elementary principal Lynette Gorman who did not attend today's hearing.

The school district reinstated her after suspending other employees citing her good work record.

She is accused of not reporting rumors about a drinking party that her son attended, again not related to the football rape case.

"She had no first hand knowledge or maybe even no reliable second or third hand knowledge I don't think of that might have happened but she did look into it and she did hear of these events from others," McNamara said.

Gorman's trial set for early January. A preliminary hearing for the rest of the defendants set for later that month.

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