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Vanderbilt football players convicted of rape

Back in August of 2013, The College Fix reported on four Vandy football players charged with rape.

Yesterday, two of them were convicted of the crime. Two others await trial.

The AP reports (via The News & Observer):

It took a jury three hours Tuesday to reach a verdict convicting Brandon Vandenburg and Cory Batey of multiple charges of aggravated rape and sexual battery. The jury saw powerful video evidence and photographs of the 21-year-old student being sexually assaulted on a dorm room floor.

Prosecutors say Brandon Banks and Jaborian “Tip” McKenzie also were in that dorm room in the early morning hours of Jan. 23, 2013. A prosecutor says he will make a decision soon about their trial. McKenzie testified at the trial that he didn’t touch the woman, but did take photos.

The jury deliberated for three hours before announcing that Brandon Vandenburg and Cory Batey were guilty, rejecting claims that they were too drunk to know what they were doing and that a college culture of binge drinking and promiscuous sex should be blamed for the attack. Batey was stoic, staring ahead and Vandenburg shook his head “no,” appearing stunned. His father had an outburst and abruptly left the courtroom.

Photographic evidence was “courtesy” of Vandenburg, whose attorneys conceded that he “took ‘deplorable’ photos.”

Dormitory closed-circuit TV images showed the players “carrying [the] unconscious woman into an elevator and down a hallway, taking compromising pictures of her and then dragging her into the room.”

Read the full story.

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About the Author
Associate Editor
Dave has been writing about education, politics, and entertainment for over 20 years, including a stint at the popular media bias site Newsbusters. He is a retired educator with over 25 years of service and is a member of the National Association of Scholars. Dave holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Delaware.