Attorneys ask judge to declare mistrial in Vanderbilt rape case
Nearly four months after a jury convicted former Vanderbilt football players Brandon Vandenburg and Cory Batey of rape, their defense attorneys are asking a judge to declare a mistrial.
According to the Tennessean, defense attorneys say one of the jurors was biased and did not want to serve on the jury because he withheld that he was a victim in a statutory rape case in 2000.
The juror, who was 16 at the time, did not consider himself a victim because “it was a consensual relationship with a man seven or eight years older than him.” When called to testify in court Monday, the man said the relationship was “inconsequential” in his ability to be a partial juror. Additionally, according to the Associated Press, the man, now 31, said his parents were the ones who pressed charges in the case.
Defense attorneys pressed the man on the issue, who was asked if he knew any victims of sexual assault as part of the jury selection process.
From the Tennessean:
Defense attorneys presented evidence trying to show that he couldn't have simply forgotten about such a major incident: The juror went through 18 months of therapy as a teen, the family installed a security system at their home after the older man made threats and the juror himself underwent a medical evaluation known as a "rape kit."
Randall Reagan, one of Vandenburg's attorneys, questioned why the juror would not think of such a significant event when asked during jury selection in the Vanderbilt case if he knew any victims of sexual assault.
Judge Monte Watkins said he would rule on the mistrial motions “by next week.”
Vandenburg and Batey were convicted in January of aggravated rape and aggravated sexual battery for the June 2013 on-campus assault of an unconscious female student. The two remain in jail and await sentencing.
For more Vanderbilt news, visit VandySports.com.
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