Was woman drugged in Vanderbilt rape case?

Prosecutors have been hinting during trial this week that an unconscious woman they say was raped in a Vanderbilt University dorm nearly three years ago may have been given a date-rape drug.

Though it has not been a focus of the ongoing trial of Cory Batey, several witnesses for the prosecution have testified about the drugs, which incapacitate a person and are often associated with sexual assault.

Batey, 22, is on trial charged with five counts of aggravated rape and aggravated sexual assault. Batey and Brandon Vandenburg, both former Vanderbilt football players, were found guilty of charges against them in January 2015 after a joint trial. A mistrial led to the second trial. Batey's began Monday, and Vandenburg's is set for June. Two others also have been charged in the case.

Deputy District Attorney General Tom Thurman suggested Wednesday — while the jury was out of the courtroom — that Vandenburg's statements during the incident indicated he knew the woman would not wake up because she had been given drugs.

On Wednesday, a man who was in the room during the incident said Vandenburg told him the woman would not wake up and Vandenburg said he knew how to beat a rape case. Jaborian "Tip" McKenzie testified in hopes he would get a deal in his own case. McKenzie said when the players were in the dorm, someone said the woman might wake up.

"He (Vandenburg) said she wasn’t going to wake up," McKenzie said.

The woman officials say was raped is expected to testify Friday as the final witness in the state's case against Batey. The Tennessean generally does not name individuals authorities say are victims of sexual assault.

Live updates: Cory Batey retrial in Vanderbilt rape case

During her testimony at the first trial, the woman said she had been dating Vandenburg since he got on campus two weeks before and met up with him late June 22, 2013, at the Tin Roof bar on Demonbreun Hill. He gave her several drinks, including a final one that he called a "California Long Island iced tea," she said.

That drink was blue and was the last thing the woman said she remembers until about 8 the next morning.

The lead investigator on the case, Metro police detective Jason Mayo, testified this week that some date-rape drugs can turn drinks blue. But he also said those drugs typically metabolize out of the body quickly, in about 24 hours.

The woman did not see a nurse until more than three days later and after meeting with Mayo. At first, she said during her previous testimony, she believed what Vandenburg told her: that she had gotten sick and he took care of her.

Kathryn Parnell, who goes by the first name Elizabeth, said she performed a sexual assault examination on the woman on June 26, 2013. She said the woman told her she had more to drink that night than she usually does. But Parnell said because the woman could not remember a long period of time, Parnell tested for date-rape drugs like Rohypnol and gamma-hydroxybutyrate, a depressant known as GHB.

"It’s difficult to detect those in the blood after 24 hours, but I ordered (tests) anyway out of an abundance of caution and because she couldn’t account for what seemed to be a long period of time," the nurse testified. There was no indication of the drugs.

Police, experts: Alcohol most common in sexual assaults

A 2014 publication by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention based on 2011 data says that nearly 1 in 10 women were victims of rape that was facilitated by drugs or alcohol. A report from the federal government’s Drug Abuse Warning Network, based on data from 2011, said that of emergency room visits for intentional drug poisoning, most of those were for alcohol. Still, 23 percent of those visits were for poisoning from unknown drugs, which could include date-rape drugs.

Who to call

The Nashville Sexual Assault Center helps victims of sexual assault and their families. For help, call the crisis and support line at 800-879-1999. 

In court Thursday

Seven people testified for the state on Thursday in the fourth day of Batey's trial. Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Charly Castelbuono said she did not find Batey's DNA in the dorm room where the alleged assault took place, on any of the woman's clothing or in a medical exam of the woman. She noted that the delay in testing — and routine habits such as showering — can erase evidence.

DeAndre Woods, a current Vanderbilt football player, and Dillon van der Wal, a former Commodore, said they saw the woman partially nude outside Vandenburg's dorm in the early morning hours of June 23, 2013. Woods said he helped put the woman in Vandenburg's bed because another teammate, Chris Boyd, told him to. Van der Wal said he did not touch the woman.

“I just didn’t feel comfortable touching her without her clothes being on," he said. Neither man reported what they saw.

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