Former Vanderbilt football player found guilty of orchestrating gang rape of girlfriend

From Cosmopolitan

The guard reports that Brandon Vandenburg, a former football player at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, has been found guilty of orchestrating a gang rape of his girlfriend in his dorm room.

The jury deliberated the case for four hours before returning a guilty verdict on five counts of aggravated rape, two counts of aggravated sexual assault and one count of unlawful photography. The 22-year-old now faces a prison sentence of up to 25 years.

During the trial, prosecutors argued that Vandenburg betrayed his girlfriend, who trusted him, by encouraging others to hurt her. They said he gave her alcohol and then handed out condoms to the other players. He then recorded videos and sent them to friends as the rapes occurred.

ABC News Surveillance video was previously aired showing Vandenburg carrying the victim from a car into the dormitory, where three football players can be seen waiting.

As for the defense, they claimed the newly arrived recruit merely asked teammates outside the dorm to help him carry the unconscious woman to his room after he couldn’t get her into her apartment.

“Mr. Vandenburg might have been able to prevent it,” defense attorney Randy Reagan told jurors. “But the state is asking you to hold Mr. Vandenburg criminally responsible for the actions of people he did not know just minutes before all of this happened.”

This is not the first time Vandenburg has been found guilty in this case; Last year, he and his former teammate Corey Batey were convicted, but the verdicts were overturned after a juror failed to disclose that he was the victim of statutory rape.

Four former players were charged in the case, two of whom were charged with rape and sexual assault of the woman, including Batey, who was found guilty of aggravated rape and other charges.

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