State drops sex offender charges against Cory Batey

Prosecutors have dropped charges against Cory Batey that accused him of violating the sex offender registry law.

Metro Nashville police detectives charged the former Vanderbilt University football player with two felony counts earlier this month after he refused to register as a sex offender while in jail.

Assistant District Attorney General Addie Askew asked General Sessions Judge Rachel Bell to dismiss the charges Tuesday during a brief court hearing. Bell granted the request.

Askew said after the hearing that Batey's lawyers clarified Batey was not refusing to register when he was approached by jail staff, but he wanted to speak to his lawyers before signing the paperwork.

She said a jail staffer had informed her that Batey had registered since the charges were filed.

Cory Batey charged with refusing to register as sex offender

"Therefore, from the state's perspective he's done what he needed to do from the beginning," Askew said.

The charges were filed by Metro police about a week after Batey, 22, was found guilty of aggravated rape and other charges on April 8. Batey is in custody and did not appear in court Tuesday. Court papers say he refused to register multiple times and asked to talk to his attorney first.

His sentencing is scheduled for May 20.

State law requires Batey to register as a violent sex offender. Tennessee Bureau of Investigation maintains the registry.

TBI officials have said the law requires a person to register within 48 hours of a guilty verdict. But when someone is in custody in Nashville, that happens as time allows staffers to reach out to inmates who must comply, a spokeswoman previously said.

Because Batey's trial was high profile, a TBI agent noticed about a week after the jury found Batey guilty that he had not registered. That started a chain of notifications to the police department and sheriff's office that led to the charges.

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

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