Two former Vanderbilt football players have been found
guilty of raping a young woman in June 2013.
The jury took just hours to convict the two men on Tuesday. Brandon Vandenburg, 21, and Cory Batey, 20, were each charged with five counts of aggravated rape and two counts of aggravated sexual battery. They were convicted on all counts, ABC News reports.
The victim, who has not been identified, told the court that she initially didn't believe that she had been raped.
Vandenburg, whom she'd been seeing at the time, told her she'd just gotten drunk and that he'd had to take care of her.
"I apologized. I was embarrassed," she said.
But surveillance footage told a different story. Vanderbilt officials reviewed dorm surveillance video from the night of the assault after receiving a report of vandalism. What they saw was much, much worse: A young woman being dragged unconscious into a dorm room. They called the police.
Still, the victim did not cooperate. When Vandenburg texted her saying he was going to get kicked off the team, she told him she'd protect him.
Since then, however, video has surfaced of the horrific attack, recorded on Vandenburg's own cellphone.
Prosecutors played the video for the jury on Thursday. "That's me," the victim testified, while her attackers looked on.
The defense blamed the assault on alcohol and campus culture.
Forensic psychologist Dr. James Walker testified Friday that Vandenburg could have been so drunk that he had no idea what he was doing.
"He was so intoxicated he was not his normal self," Walker said. "He was doing things he would not normally have done."
The jury took just hours to convict the two men on Tuesday. Brandon Vandenburg, 21, and Cory Batey, 20, were each charged with five counts of aggravated rape and two counts of aggravated sexual battery. They were convicted on all counts, ABC News reports.
The victim, who has not been identified, told the court that she initially didn't believe that she had been raped.
Vandenburg, whom she'd been seeing at the time, told her she'd just gotten drunk and that he'd had to take care of her.
"I apologized. I was embarrassed," she said.
But surveillance footage told a different story. Vanderbilt officials reviewed dorm surveillance video from the night of the assault after receiving a report of vandalism. What they saw was much, much worse: A young woman being dragged unconscious into a dorm room. They called the police.
Still, the victim did not cooperate. When Vandenburg texted her saying he was going to get kicked off the team, she told him she'd protect him.
Since then, however, video has surfaced of the horrific attack, recorded on Vandenburg's own cellphone.
Prosecutors played the video for the jury on Thursday. "That's me," the victim testified, while her attackers looked on.
The defense blamed the assault on alcohol and campus culture.
Forensic psychologist Dr. James Walker testified Friday that Vandenburg could have been so drunk that he had no idea what he was doing.
"He was so intoxicated he was not his normal self," Walker said. "He was doing things he would not normally have done."
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