Victims' groups weigh in on records case

Four advocacy groups have joined in a case asking the Tennessee Supreme Court not to release some records used in the investigation of a high-profile rape at Vanderbilt University.

The groups and an individual filed their 37-page brief on Wednesday. The state Supreme Court is set to consider public records law, laws that grant protections to crime victims and police exemptions to public records during arguments on Thursday.

The groups are Advocates for Women's and Kids' Equality, The Avalon Center, Morning Star Sanctuary and You Have the Power. Kate Waide is also named in the filing as a "member of numerous Tennessee-based advocacy groups."

Two former Vanderbilt football players, Brandon Vandenburg and Cory Batey, were convicted in January on four counts of aggravated rape and other charges for the rape of an unconscious woman in a dorm in June 2013.

Two other former players, Brandon Banks and Jaborian "Tip" McKenzie, await trial on similar charges.

The Tennessean, eight media organizations and the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government filed suit against Metro in fall 2013 seeking access to records in the hands of police, including text messages between coaches and football players.

The media groups are not seeking access to images of the assault that were captured on cellphone video or in pictures.

The advocacy groups say that releasing information sought by the newspaper would jeopardize protections given to crime victims. That part of the argument is largely similar to arguments made by the victim and four other advocacy groups in multiple previous court filings.

The groups that are new to the case only oppose the release of records that include the woman's personal identifying information, not records that do not relate to her privacy, according to Daniel Horwitz, a Nashville attorney who filed the brief.

"There is absolutely no doubt that survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence will be deterred from reporting their abusers to law enforcement if they must fear the consequences of their private and personally identifying information becoming a public record," Horwitz said. "This brief aims to build a wall around survivors to protect their privacy, and to ensure that rape victims will never be deterred from seeking the justice that they rightly deserve."

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