An attorney representing one of the two teens charged in an Ohio rape case that has grabbed the nation's attention is asking a judge to order a change of venue and delay the start of the trial.

The case made headlines when the online activist group Anonymous published a video of the high school football players joking about the alleged victim.

The trial of Trent Mays and Ma'lik Richmond is scheduled to begin February 13, but Mays' attorney Adam Nemann says he wants the case moved out of the small town because he is concerned about safety.

Controversy over the case has embroiled the small town of Steubenville, Ohio, and some residents are accusing outsiders of trying to ruin the reputation of the local football team.

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"The buzz that keeps coming about is that Steubenville is a bad place, things are being covered up, more people should be arrested and I feel that's all unjustly so, " Jerry Barilla, a longtime Steubenville store owner, told CNN.

"Because I think that to condemn an entire city for something that happened is not right. To condemn an entire school and all the kids that go there for something that took place among a few students is still not right," said Barrilla.

Marianne Hemmeter, special prosecutor in the case, said the defendants knew the girl was drunk and could not give consent.

HLN is identifying the defendants in this case even though Mays and Ma'lik are being prosecuted in juvenile court, because they have been publicly named by the juvenile court judge, by the defense attorneys and in social media accounts. HLN is not identifying the girl who is also a juvenile, because of its policy to withhold the names of alleged rape victims.