Cory Batey opens up to TV's Dr. Phil

One week after he was convicted of raping an unconscious student, former Vanderbilt University football player Cory Batey sat down for an interview with Dr. Phil. Daytime television personality Dr. Phil McGraw met with Batey, 21, at Nashville's Criminal Justice Center for about an hour Tuesday.

"His niche seems to be helping heal families, and this interview was not about Cory, it was about helping the healing to begin for everyone," said Worrick Robinson, Batey's attorney. "It was about, I think, a bigger picture in all of this ... the alcohol abuse going on, the culture argument."

Robinson said he was contacted by staffers of the TV show during Batey's trial, and eventually he and Batey agreed to the interview. They denied interview requests from news programs, Robinson said, preferring the tone of Dr. Phil's program.

Robinson argued at trial that Batey was pressured by a culture of promiscuity, partying and peer pressure before the rape. It did not work as a legal defense — a jury found Batey guilty in the rape — but Robinson said there is still work to be done to raise awareness of those issues.

"It's not going to happen overnight. I know that, and Cory knows that," Robinson said. "Hopefully the message from this is people can begin to heal, and it's a national problem that needs to be addressed and needs light shined on it."

Robinson noted that Dr. Phil asked Batey some tough questions.

WKRN, the ABC affiliate in Nashville, reports the show will air at 3 p.m. Monday. The station also says Dr. Phil will appear Wednesday on "Good Morning America."

Batey and Brandon Vandenburg, both 21, were convicted on a total of 16 counts on Jan. 27 after a 12-day trial. A jury found them guilty in the June 23, 2013, rape of a 21-year-old woman in a Vanderbilt dorm. Both men remain in jail pending sentencing set for March 6.

Vandenburg was not interviewed by Dr. Phil, Robinson said. Batey's interview for the show was the first time he's spoken to the media about the case.

Robinson said Batey was "doing as well as he can under the circumstances."

"I know he is staying strong in his faith," Robinson said. "I think he is assimilating to life in the jail, everything that goes along with that, which is the regimen and very little freedom."

Reach Stacey Barchenger at 615-726-8968 and on Twitter @sbarchenger.