Vanderbilt
College football player Brandon Banks is seen in an undated photo
supplied by the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department in
Tennesee, U.S., received on June 24, 2017.
The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department via
Reuters

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Reuters) – A Tennessee jury on Friday found a
former Vanderbilt University football player guilty of raping an
unconscious female student in a teammate’s dormitory room in
2013.

The Nashville jury found Brandon Banks, 23, guilty of aggravated
rape and aggravated sexual battery after deliberating for about
15 hours over two days. The case stoked simmering concern about
sexual assault on college campuses by athletes.

Banks faces at least 15 years in prison, Assistant District
Attorney Roger Moore told media. Sentencing will be Aug. 18.

“We are very satisfied with their verdict,” Moore said.

Defense attorney Mark Scruggs did not respond to a request to
comment. He was quoted by The Tennessean newspaper as saying that
Banks was “shocked but understands that this is only the first
part of this process. There’s a lot more to do from here on.”

Teammates Brandon Vandenburg and Cory Batey, two of the four
former Vanderbilt football players charged in the case along with
Banks, were found guilty when tried together in January 2015 but
a mistrial was declared.

Batey was later retried, convicted and sentenced to 15 years in
prison. Vandenburg was found guilty in June 2016 and sentenced to
17 years in prison.

A fourth player, Jaborian “Tip” McKenzie, who testified against
his three teammates, has yet to stand trial in the case.

The players used cell phones to record their crimes, and those
videos – shown to the jurors in all the trials – played crucial
roles in the prosecution’s case.

Vandenburg and the victim, who had been dating, met for drinks at
a bar popular with Vanderbilt students. Both had been drinking
prior to meeting, according to testimony.

Vandenburg tried to take the victim, who was unconscious, to her
apartment, but could not get in. He then took her back to his
dormitory, where the other three men charged in the case helped
cart her to his room, which was the site of the attacks,
prosecutors said.

The victim, who has not been named, testified against all three
men for their roles in the rapes.

Banks testified in his own defense and said he was intimidated by
the other players and participated because he was scared of
retribution that night and later on the football field.

(Reporting by Tim Ghianni; Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by
Leslie Adler)

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