Jurors hearing a sexual assault case against two former Vanderbilt University football players were scheduled on Friday to hear the first full day of defense attorneys’ arguments – one day after prosecutors showed the courtroom video of portions of the assault and surveillance footage of an unconscious victim being carried by the men, the Tennessean reported.
Brandon Vandenburg, 21, and Cory Batey, 20, are each charged with five counts of aggravated rape and two counts of sexual battery, for their part in an alleged four-man gang rape of a female student in June 2013.
On Thursday, the victim took the stand to identify herself in surveillance footage and graphic images the men took during the alleged assault, the Tennessean reported. She testified that she was so intoxicated she had no recollection of the assault, and didn’t believe it occurred until police showed her evidence.
“[Vandenburg] told me that I had gotten sick in his room and he had to clean it up and that it was horrible and that he had to spend the whole night taking care of me and it was horrible,” the woman said on the stand, according to the Tennessean.
Before the assault, the woman had gone on dates with Vandenburg. “I apologized,” she said. “I was embarrassed.”
Three more former football players who allegedly destroyed evidence following the assault also face criminal charges, of tampering with evidence. The four men accused of rape are being tried separately, after the court severed Vandenburg’s and Batey’s cases from those of the other two men, Brandon Banks, 20, and JaBorian “Tip” McKenzie, 20.
On Friday, attorneys began arguing in defense of Batey and Vandenburg, questioning the victim about how much she drank on the evening of the assault. The defense is expected to call technological experts to the stand, to address evidence gathered from cellphones and surveillance cameras.
The court has not set a trial date for Banks and McKenzie.
