Accuser and Batey both take stand before jury deliberates
Editor's note: This story contains graphic content and may be disturbing to some readers.
A woman who authorities said was raped by four men in a Vanderbilt University dorm in 2013 broke down Friday when prosecutors showed her a picture of the incident.
“It’s me,” she said through sobs.
The woman, now 24, testified for the second time in the case, this time in the trial of Cory Batey, 22. In a climactic day of the high-profile trial, the woman and Batey both took the stand, and the state and defense teams rested their cases and delivered closing arguments.
The jury began their deliberations just after 8.30 p.m. and deliberated for two and a half hours before returning their verdict.
Batey is charged with five counts of aggravated rape and two counts of aggravated sexual battery.
As Judge Monte Watkins read jurors the rules they must follow in deciding the case, Batey broke down, betraying a normally stoic composure. He cried quietly, wiping his face with his hands and tissues. He faces 15 to 25 years prison if convicted on a single charge of aggravated rape.
Jurors heard five days of testimony in the retrial of Batey, who was charged along with three other former football players.
Batey and Brandon Vandenburg both were found guilty of charges against them last year. A mistrial led to the second trial, and the men were released from jail. Batey's trial began Monday. Vandenburg is scheduled for retrial in June. The two others, Jaborian “Tip” McKenzie and Brandon E. Banks, also face charges.
Since the incident in 2013, the woman has graduated from Vanderbilt. Moved out of state. Celebrated three birthdays. Started a doctorate program. Hung up the phone on prosecutors when they called to say there would be another delay.
On Thursday, she took a qualifying exam in her neuroscience program.
On Friday, she walked into a Nashville courtroom.
She hugged former prosecutor Kathy Morante and held back tears. Morante worked on this case and is now with the Metro Nashville Police Department.
"She's my hero, she really is," Morante said of the woman. Because of the mistrial and separating the trials, the woman will have to testify at least three times..
"For everyone she's going to stick it through to the end," Morante said. "I'll be here for her."
Even after her second time on the witness stand, the threats of delays in the case were not done.
In a confusing series of events, Batey appeared to flip-flop on whether he would testify in his own defense, as he had done before, and asked for a delay.
His lawyer, Courtney Teasley, called Batey as a witness. The lawyers went to meet with the judge in chambers, which has became regular during the trial. Then, Batey met several times with his attorneys in the hallway of the courtroom that is normally used to hold inmates.
When he emerged, Batey addressed the judge, begging for more time. The judge said the jury was anxious to get home to Chattanooga. They were sequestered in Nashville because of intense media coverage of Batey’s prior trial.
“I would like some time just to re-strategize with my defense team,” Batey said. “I know they’re anxious to get home. I want to be here for my son. I want to put myself and my family in the best position possible."
“Y’all have forced me to do everything.”
Since the incident in 2013, Batey got kicked off the football team. Lost his scholarship to Vanderbilt. Celebrated three birthdays. Spent five months in jail. Fathered a son, now 15 months old.
Batey has arrived for trial several days this week with the boy in his arms. More than a dozen people were in court supporting him Friday; his mother has attended each day of both of his trials. She met with him once as he was deciding to testify.
Teasley asked for a delay of even a few hours, saying Batey was not in a sound emotional state to decide whether to testify. Watkins said Batey has had all week, if not longer, to decide.
The judge told him he had a constitutional right to testify — or not. Batey decided he would, and said he was not being coerced into doing so.
Batey said he did not remember the night of the incident because he had been drinking. He remembered a party and then waking up for church the next day.
But in his prior statements to police and campus officials, he said he saw Vandenburg with a drunk woman, and Vandenburg asked for help. Batey said he went to the dorm to check on the woman and left within five minutes.
In closing arguments, Teasley blamed Vandenburg, saying he was a puppet master who told Batey what to do. She urged the jury to find Batey not guilty.
"What happened to (the woman) is not right, but it's not rape," she said.
Surveillance video presented during trial showed Batey and three others were in the room for 32 minutes.
Vanderbilt security officials investigating unrelated vandalism checked the surveillance video for clues and saw four men, one carrying an unconscious woman, going into the room about 2:30 a.m. June 23, 2013.
What they saw grew into a sexual assault investigation, and eventually Metro police detectives found 30 pictures and three videos of the attack on three of the men’s cellphones. The videos show Batey penetrating the woman with his fingers, touching her and sitting on her face, raising his middle finger. Two people testified that he appeared to be having sex with the woman.
The detectives told the woman what they found, and that she had been sexually assaulted.
Until then, she believed what Vandenburg told her: That she had drank too much, gotten sick, and he took care of her.
She does not remember what happened in Vandenburg’s dorm. She took a drink from Vandenburg late June 22, 2013, and woke up at 8 a.m. the next day, alone, in his room. She felt ill, her shoulder hurt, and the pain got worse throughout the day.
Even three years later, she still has not seen all the pictures police found on Vandenburg, Batey's and Banks' cellphones.
Assistant District Attorney General Jan Norman handed the woman just one during her testimony Friday.
The prosecutor's final question for the woman was: "Did you consent to any of that?"
"Absolutely not," the woman said, hanging her head and wiping her tears with a tissue.
READ MORE: Read the woman's testimony at Batey's prior trial in January 2015.
INTERACTIVE: See how the retrial is different from the the first
Live updates: Cory Batey retrial in Vanderbilt rape case
Was woman drugged in Vanderbilt rape case?
Cory Batey abruptly leaves court; attorneys say he's ill
Reach Stacey Barchenger at 615-726-8968 or on Twitter @sbarchenger.