Jury convicts 2 ex-Vanderbilt players of raping woman

[alp227]

Source: AP

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A jury convicted two ex-Vanderbilt football players on Tuesday of raping a former student, rejecting claims that they were too drunk to know what they were doing and that a college culture of binge drinking and promiscuous sex should be blamed for the attack.

The jury deliberated for three hours before announcing that Brandon Vandenburg and Cory Batey were guilty. Batey was stoic, staring ahead and Vandenburg shook his head "no," appearing stunned as the verdict was read. His father had an outburst and abruptly left the courtroom.

The victim, who was a 21-year-old neuroscience and economics major at the time of the 2013 attack, cried as each guilty verdict was announced.

Both men were convicted of four counts of aggravated rape, one count of attempted aggravated rape and two counts of aggravated sexual battery. They face decades in prison when they are sentenced March 6.

Read more: http://collegefootball.ap.org/article/jury-convicts-2-ex-vanderbilt-players-raping-woman

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Longer article by The Tennessean: Vanderbilt rape trial: Defendants found guilty on all charges

[Blue_Tires]

1. Once they were kicked off the team

i.e., not protected by the program anymore, I didn't foresee any other verdict...

[chillfactor]

2. Amen..

about time athletes paid for their ungodly behavior.....

[BlueJazz]

3. I hope this causes some to think about what they're doing and to have more respect for other people.

Such actions destroy the perpetrators life and CAN destroy the victims as well. It takes a very special and strong person to (at the very least) carry on with life without severe mental duress.

[niyad]

5. it CAN destroy the victims' lives? but DOES destroy the perps? did I misunderstand that somehow?

[christx30]

8. In that rapists can (and should) go to prison.

If you can't stop someone from raping out of a sense of human decency, get them to stop with threats of 15-20 years in prison.

[BlueJazz]

14. "but DOES destroy the perps?"

IF the bags of human garbage are caught and jailed. Sorry, I should have made that clear. My bad.

[BlueJazz]

13. Some victums are able to put the past behind them. Most can't when it comes to something like rape.

I suspect?? that a lot of women can carry on with their lives...on the surface...but (naturally) are forever doomed to carry the load of what happened.

I'm not a woman, so I certainly can only guess at the pain. I like to think that I could put it behind me but I hope I'm never asked to carry around something so horrible....even knowing it's not my fault.
A part of me still says: You don't know shit. (talking about me)

[niyad]

18. what I was questioning was "it DOES destroy the perps' llives" part of that statement.

[BlueJazz]

21. If they get caught and jailed. Otherwise, I'm sure they couldn't care less.

[niyad]

23. exactly. and how many of them ever get caught, let alone jailed.

[BlueJazz]

25. A disgustingly small percentage. You make me think of things that are horrible to think about.

But that's the way it should be.

[niyad]

27. this subject is something that has been ignored for far too long.

[BlueJazz]

31. Yep. It's the culture we live in. If you don't mind reading below >>

http://www.kottke.org/08/07/the-most-beautiful-suicide

..
..
I actually researched this death: She said... "He is much better off without me ... I wouldn't make a good wife for anybody"
The Woman had recently been discharged from the service. Her mother said the daughter burned her discharge papers and EVERYTHING, including her uniforms, that was associated with the service. That's the Key.
I asked myself...Why would she do that??

My gut feeling is she was raped or gang raped and naturally, as most women do...not report it for fear of having to go through the bullshit that all women have to go through... especially in the service.

Agggghh. Just thinking about it is gut-wrenching. The poor woman...she never had a chance.

Maybe I'm wrong. I hope so...

[niyad]

33. I hope you are, as well, but probably not far off the mark. the life article was rather

sickening, almost glorying in the beauty of that photograph.

[Beacool]

4. Good!!!

Maybe it'll send a message to other young men that it's not OK to gang rape a girl just because she's not conscious.

If that's the current culture in colleges, then that culture needs to be changed. It's no bloody excuse to rape someone because they and the victim are drunk.

[niyad]

6. about damned time. so, they blame a culture of binge drinking? admitting that they are

so weak-willed that they cannot think for themselves? pooooor helpless little footballers. the verdicts must have come as a shock to them.

[Travelman]

11. Judging from the look on Vandenberg's face, they did

He certainly seemed to look rather astounded to me as they read off the nine charges and said "guilty" after each one.


It came as a shock to me just because the verdict came in so quickly. Sixteen charges, and the jury found them all guilty in just three hours. I haven't really followed the trial part of the case, but the evidence and testimony must have been absolutely damning.

[Skittles]

32. I remember a letter to a newspaper

(referring to such a culture) a man wrote, "I spent a great amount of my college years drunk and never even thought once about raping a woman." This blame-it-on-alcohol excuse is indeed garbage.

[FLPanhandle]

7. Notice the difference between a real university and FSU

Vanderbilt kicks the player's off the team and doesn't protect them against police investigation.

FSU protects it's QB and interfers with all investigations while continuing to play their rapist QB.

[Blue_Tires]

29. The cynic in me wants to say Vandy's handling of the incident would be much different

if their program was a top-10 powerhouse competing for the national title every season...

[marions ghost]

9. The player who took the photos

--his lawyer said " he should never have taken the photos..." (and so therefore, let these dark deeds remain in the dark).

But photos is how these predatory animals are going to be stopped. When normal people see the horror of these acts, they are disgusted and outraged. This is not normal behavior.

Glad they got convicted and some in academia are finally paying attention to these campus crimes.

[niyad]

19. forget about "should never have taken the photos", lawyer. how about "NEVER RAPE"??

[marions ghost]

22. Exactly

amazing how far people will go to try to cover up these atrocities.

Amy Goodman did an excellent piece yesterday on the documentary "The Hunting Ground" --about campus rape. How it is perpetrated by predatory repeat offenders:

http://www.democracynow.org/2015/1/28/the_hunting_ground_film_exposes_how

[niyad]

24. thank you for that link.

[marions ghost]

26. Sure

pass it on...

[leftynyc]

10. Good news

I saw this story late last week and send it to my sister (niece is at a different college but has several friends at Vanderbilt). Thankfully justice has been served here.

[Ace Rothstein]

12. They were too drunk to know what they were doing and that a college culture of binge drinking...

...and promiscuous sex should be blamed for the attack.

[DetlefK]

28. Poor guys. At least they don't suffer from affluenza.

[AverageJoe90]

16. Good, good. Let the little douchebags suffer.

And this was in Tennessee, too, a staunchly Republican state. That, to me at least, shows that there's hope for the rest of the nation, too.

[DeSwiss]

17. K&R

[jmowreader]

20. Ah, give 'em a break...

Vanderbilt went 0-and-8 in the SEC last season. Since Vandy's football team is as bad as it is, it was okay to throw these guys in jail where they belong.

I have to wonder tho: would the verdict have been the same if the Commodores hadn't lost to Ole Miss 3-41 or to Mississippi State in a 51-point shutout?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

30. I've been watching a rerun of "Prohibition" on a local PBS channel.

It's hard to imagine that any incident that begins with college athletes, or any college students, or anyone at all going out for a night of heavy drinking is going to end well.