The Vanderbilt rape case is a criminal case of

sexual assault Sexual assault is an act of sexual abuse in which one intentionally Physical intimacy, sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or Coercion, coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their w ...

that occurred on June 23, 2013, in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, in which four

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

players carried an unconscious 21-year-old female student into a dorm room, gang-raped and

sodomized Sodomy (), also called buggery in British English, principally refers to either anal sex (but occasionally also oral sex) between people, or any sexual activity between a human and another animal ( bestiality). It may also mean any non- procreat ...

her, photographed and videotaped her, and one urinated on her face. Three of the rapists were convicted, and received prison sentences ranging from 15 years, the minimum allowed by Tennessee law for their crimes, to 17 years. The fourth player accepted a

plea deal A plea bargain, also known as a plea agreement or plea deal, is a legal arrangement in criminal law where the defendant agrees to plead guilty or no contest to a charge in exchange for concessions from the prosecutor. These concessions can include ...

which included 10 years'

probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offence (law), offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incar ...

, and did not receive any jail time.

Rape

On June 23, 2013, four

Vanderbilt Commodores football The Vanderbilt Commodores football program represents Vanderbilt University in the sport of American football. The Commodores compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) within the Southe ...

team players, Brandon Vandenburg, Cory Lamont Batey, Brandon E. Banks, and Jaborian "Tip" McKenzie carried an unconscious 21-year-old female student into a dorm room in the school's Gillette House dorm. They gang-raped and

her, slapped her, inserted their fingers in her, and sat on her face as she was on the floor in a 32-minute attack. They took over 40 graphic photos, and took videos of the rape with the cell phones of Vandenburg, Batey, and Banks. The victim (who is

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

) told the court that after Batey (who is

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

) raped her, he urinated on her face while saying she deserved what he was doing to her because of the color of her skin, saying what sources reported was "That's for 400 years of slavery, you

bitch Bitch may refer to: * Bitch (slang), a vulgar derogatory term used primarily referring to women, but is often directed towards men as well * A female dog or other canine Bitch or bitches may also refer to: Arts and media Film and television ...

Case

The four defendants documented their gang rape with both videos and pictures and tried to delete them. When the footage was recovered from their cellular devices, it was presented in court, as well as security camera footage that caught their act. The players were dismissed from the football team on June 29, 2013, and banned from campus during the six-week investigation that followed. On August 9, 2013, they were arrested and indicted for aggravated rape and sexual battery. All four men were charged with five counts of aggravated rape and two counts of aggravated sexual

battery Battery or batterie most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source * Battery indicator, a device whic ...

. The outcome of each case is as follows. * In July 2016, after being convicted by a Davidson County Criminal Court jury, Batey, 22 years old, received a 15-year prison sentence, the minimum allowed by law for his crimes (while both the victim and prosecutors had asked the judge for the maximum sentence possible of 25 years to be meted out); after he gets out he will be required to be listed on the sex-offender registry for the rest of his life. He is serving his time in

Riverbend Maximum Security Institution The Riverbend Maximum Security Institution (RMSI) is a prison in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, operated by the Tennessee Department of Correction. The prison opened in 1989 and replaced its 100-year-old neighbor, the Tennessee State Peniten ...

. * In November 2016, after being convicted, Vandenburg was sentenced to 17 years in prison; after he gets out he will be required to be listed on the sex-offender registry for the rest of his life. He is serving his time in Morgan County Correctional Complex. * In August 2017, after being convicted, Banks received a 15-year sentence; after he gets out he will be required to be listed on the sex-offender registry for the rest of his life. He is serving his time in Turney Center Industrial Complex. * In March 2018, after testifying against his three co-defendants and pleading guilty to facilitation of aggravated rape, McKenzie, 23 years old, accepted a

which included 10 years'

and a lifetime registration as a

sex offender A sex offender (sexual offender, sex abuser, or sexual abuser) is a person who has committed a Sex and the law, sex crime. What constitutes a sex crime differs by culture and legal jurisdiction. The majority of convicted sex offenders have convi ...

, and became the only one of the four defendants to not receive any jail time. He was not seen touching the victim after he helped his teammates carry her into the dorm room. A fifth player, Chris Boyd, pleaded guilty in September 2013 to being an accessory after the fact by encouraging his teammates to keep quiet and destroy evidence of the rape, and was dismissed from the team but not the university for his role in helping cover up the rape. He testified against Vandenberg and Batey as part of a plea deal, and was sentenced to a year of unsupervised probation. Mack Prioleau, the roommate of one of the defendants, Vandenburg, was in the room when the rape occurred. "I was scared and uncomfortable and didn't know what to do," Prioleau said during his 2015 testimony. Prioleau urged his friends to delete all the evidence that could be used against them and even helped clean the room in an attempt to remove anything that could have been traced back to the victim, like the victim's vomit. Prioleau was charged as an accessory to the crime and received one year of unsupervised probation. Appeals by Batey, Vandenburg, and Banks to the

Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals The Court of Criminal Appeals is one of Tennessee's two intermediate appellate courts. It hears trial court appeals in felony and misdemeanor cases, as well as post-conviction petitions. Appeals in civil cases are heard by the Tennessee Cou ...

in efforts to have their convictions overturned were unsuccessful in 2019. In 2020, the

Tennessee Supreme Court The Tennessee Supreme Court is the highest court in the state of Tennessee. The Supreme Court's three buildings are seated in Nashville, Knoxville, and Jackson, Tennessee. The Court is composed of five members: a chief justice, and four justice ...

declined to reconsider Vandenburg's appeal of his conviction.

References

External links

"Police Find Video of Victim's Rape by Vanderbilt Football Players,"
ABC News, January 31, 2015 (video).
"Video Shows Vanderbilt Football Player Carrying Date Into Dorm,"
ABC News, June 27, 2015 (video). {{Vanderbilt Commodores football navbox 2010s trials 2013 in Tennessee 2010s crimes in Tennessee 21st century in Nashville, Tennessee June 2013 crimes in the United States Campus sexual assault College football controversies Crimes in Tennessee Gang rape in the United States Racially motivated violence in Tennessee Racially motivated violence against white Americans Rape trials in the United States Sex scandals in the United States Sexual assault in sports Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt Commodores football Violence in Tennessee Women in Tennessee Trials in Tennessee Sodomy

Rape

Case

See also

References

External links