Jury convicts two Vanderbilt football players of rape; two more yet to be tried

Jury convicts two Vanderbilt football players of rape; two more yet to be tried

Images the players took of the assault helped convict them, and the jury wasn't swayed by arguments that they were drunk out of their minds.

A jury has convicted two Vanderbilt football players after seeing photos and video of a sexual attack on an unconscious woman in Nashville two years ago.

The jury convicted the football players of aggravated rape and related charges, who were among four players who allegedly participated in the assault, according to a Washington Post report. The other two have pleaded not guilty and will be tried later.

Brandon Vandenburg and Cory Battery, both 21 years old, will face between 15 and 80 years in prison depending on sentencing. After 12 days of trial, the jury took about three hours to convict them.

The victim had no memory of the assault and could not testify against the players. However, some images were taken of the attack and sent to friends, which helped convict the two players. Vandenburg was a tight end on the Vanderbilt football team, and Batey was a wide receiver.

Other individuals in the dorm were alleged to have been aware that the victim was in trouble but did nothing to help, according to the report.

The victim, also 21, had gone out with Vandenburg earlier that evening. Vandenburg did not have sex with her, but he was convicted with rape because he encouraged Batey and two others to assault her, the jury decided.

According to testimony, he passed out condoms to the other players and slapped her buttocks, saying he couldn’t have sex with her because he was high on cocaine. Prosecutors said Batey did have sex with her as well as urinate on her.

The defense said alcohol was the reason for their behavior, arguing that Batey was so “crazy drunk” he didn’t know what he was doing, according to the report.

However, the jury was not swayed by arguments that the defendants were out of their minds, or that the college culture encouraged such wild behavior.

The rape allegations quickly surfaced after the assault, and the university found closed-circuit footage of the players dragging the woman into a room and photographing her, calling the police and kicking the players off the team and expelling them.

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