NEWS

DA: Victim in Vanderbilt rape case experienced 'worst nightmare'

Stacey Barchenger
sbarchenger@tennessean.com
Deputy District Attorney General Tom Thurman speaks during second day of jury selection in the Vanderbilt rape case in the Justice A. A. Birch Building in Nashville, Tenn. January 13, 2015.
  • Jury consists of nine women and five men%2C including two alternates.
  • What%27s next%3A The prosecution is expected to continue putting witnesses on the stand Wednesday.
  • Opening arguments outline how prosecutor%2C defense will proceed.

Deputy District Attorney Tom Thurman walked past a podium and told 14 near-strangers a story.

A woman studying at Vanderbilt University was a member of the dance team and "in a good place" until June 23, 2013.

"Little did she know that day that held such great promise for her would turn into her worst nightmare," Thurman said.

In 19 minutes, Thurman gave a graphic and blunt account of what four former football players are accused of doing to the woman that day: raping and sexually assaulting her in a Vanderbilt dorm room while she was unconscious, and then trying to cover it up.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys gave opening statements in the trial of two of those players on Tuesday, laying out a road map of evidence and giving additional insight into their cases.

Videos and photos of the alleged incident — and witnesses who will explain what the video shows — will be key to the prosecutors' case. DNA evidence probably won't play a major role.

Meanwhile, defense attorneys will jump on the lack of DNA evidence, and in their opening statements pointed fingers at other people charged in the case who are expected to testify. They told jurors to carefully consider the credibility of those witnesses.

Alcohol, too, is expected to play a role in the defense, in terms of how much the alleged victim had the night of the incident, where she got it from and how it would have affected the suspects' judgment.

Thurman said trial evidence would show Brandon Vandenburg, 21, and Cory Batey, 20, are guilty of five counts of aggravated rape and two counts of aggravated sexual battery, the charges against them. Vandenburg also is charged with tampering with evidence and unlawful photography.

While Thurman spoke, the alleged victim sat in the courtroom's public seating area. She wiped her eyes with tissues and occasionally held hands with the women sitting next to her. Vandenburg and Batey — seated a few feet from their family members, who filled two rows of benches — remained stoic.

Also watching opening statements were District Attorney Glenn Funk, several criminal defense attorneys and a handful of media, including representatives of Vanderbilt's student newspaper.

Prosecutors said there is no DNA evidence connecting Batey or two other co-defendants to the alleged rape.

"Although we don't really need it because we have video and photographs that show they were there," Thurman told jurors. Vandenburg's DNA was found when the alleged victim went for a medical exam, but he had consensual sex with the victim the next day, Thurman said.

The state will try and prove that, whether the suspects were actively involved, each is criminally responsible for the rape. According to Tennessee law, someone can be guilty if he shares intent or assists in a crime.

Nashville attorney Jim Todd, who is analyzing the case for The Tennessean, said in an interview after court concluded Tuesday that the state's graphic opening statement focused jurors' attention on video evidence.

"I think the state led with a right-cross and connected," Todd said, using a boxing metaphor. "It's going to be hard for the jury to forget what is alleged to be in these videos. But now the state has to back it up."

Brandon E. Banks and Jaborian "Tip" McKenzie, the two other football players who are charged with aggravated rape and aggravated sexual battery in the incident, are expected as witnesses. Prosecutors say both were there the night of the rape, and Banks is accused of participating in assaulting the alleged victim.

Banks, 20, and McKenzie, 20, have not yet gone on trial. Both have pleaded not guilty.

Defense attorneys honed in on the fact that both are witnesses, saying that Banks and McKenzie might have something to gain through their testimony.

In 12 minutes of opening arguments, Fletcher Long, an attorney for Vandenburg, pointed the finger at Banks, who Long said "acted alone" the night of the alleged rape.

Long said he expected Banks would testify that Vandenburg "made me do it" in hopes that Banks would benefit with a break in his own case.

Attorneys for Batey and Vandenburg said their clients were not on the video that prosecutors plan to show the jury.

Batey's attorney, Worrick Robinson, also told a story in his opening statement, which took 20 minutes. His story was of Batey as a promising young football player who was swayed by a college culture of drinking and sexual promiscuity. He said two experts would testify that Batey was intoxicated the night of the rape and that affected what would have been his normal intent.

"The culture was of sexual freedom, of sexual experimentation. It was a culture that encouraged sexual promiscuity," Robinson told the jurors. "But not, not just (that) alone, there was also a culture of alcohol and alcohol consumption. And alcohol that changed him and changed others and changed several people on the morning of June 23, 2013."

What's next

The prosecution is expected to continue putting witnesses on the stand Wednesday. About 10 other police investigators, the victim and several football players are expected to testify for the prosecution this week.

The jury

Nine women and five men, including two alternates.

Five members who appear to be minorities: two black men, two black women and a woman who, in questioning, confirmed she was of Iranian heritage.

Six members work in the medical field or provide home health care. Of those, one is a doctor at Vanderbilt.

At least four said they were Nashville natives or grew up in Nashville.

Trial so far

Monday: Attorneys questioned potential jurors for six hours and booted eight potential jurors.

Tuesday: Just before lunch, attorneys agreed on 14 jurors, including two alternates, to hear the case and Judge Monte Watkins announced: "We have our jury."

Watkins read the indictment, and suspects Brandon Vandenburg and Cory Batey stood up and pleaded not guilty in front of the jurors.

Opening statements lasted about 50 minutes.

Katie White, Julianna Martel and Andrew East testified for the state saying they saw the victim the night of the alleged rape

Vanderbilt University Police Lt. Donnie Harville testified and explained surveillance video. He said it showed Vandenburg and co-defendant Brandon E. Banks carrying and dropping the unconscious victim on the way to Vandenburg's dorm, Room 213 at Gillette Hall, about 2:30 a.m. the day of the alleged rape.

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

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