Knoxville News Sentinel sues for records in rape case

The Knoxville News Sentinel has asked a judge to release records related to the pending rape charges against former Vols football players A.J. Johnson and Michael Williams.

The newspaper filed a motion to intervene in the case and asks a judge to release several records in the case that a reporter, Jamie Satterfield, had been told were sealed, though there was no order in the public case file, according to the motion.

Satterfield first sought search warrants related to the case in March 2015. The motion also seeks access to recordings and transcripts of police interviews with witnesses and the woman police said was sexually assaulted, all of which the motion says were entered as evidence in the case and should be public record.

"We have been asking for more than a year to inspect the records in this case, a right of citizens guaranteed by the constitutions of the United States and Tennessee," News Sentinel Managing Editor Tom Chester said in an email to The Tennessean. "We have been rebuffed and felt a lawsuit was our last recourse to undo these secret proceedings and to ensure that future requests to inspect records are given due process in a court hearing."

In another pending public records case, The Tennessean is seeking records in a rape case involving two former Vanderbilt University football players. The news organization sought all evidence police had of the crime, including surveillance video, as well as third-party text messages between Vanderbilt coaches and football players who police accused in the June 2013 rape.

The Tennessee Supreme Court is weighing whether those records are public or fall under an exception for pending police investigations.

In the Nashville case, police accused Brandon Vandenburg, Cory Batey, Jaborian "Tip" McKenzie and Brandon E. Banks of raping an unconscious woman in Vandenburg's dorm. Vandenburg and Batey went to trial in January 2015, but a mistrial was declared. A second trial for those two men is set for April 4.

In the Knoxville case, police accused Johnson and Williams of raping a woman, a former Tennessee student-athlete, at Johnson's apartment in November 2014 after Tennessee's win over Kentucky. Williams' trial is set for June 27, and Johnson's trial is scheduled July 18.

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