Vanderbilt Football Players' Rape Trial Expected to End Today, Jury Deliberation Will Soon Be Underway

The defense in the rape trial for two former Vanderbilt football players is expected to call one final witness before closing arguments send the jury into deliberation.

According to the Tennessean, the trial for Brandon Vandenburg and Corey Batey is expected to end Monday. Both are charged with aggravated rape and sexual battery while Vandenburg is also charged with unlawful photography and tampering with evidence.

Surveillance footage and witness testimony has reportedly pieced together the events of the night in question in June 2013. A group of Vanderbilt football recruits were new to campus when Batey was hanging out one night in a dorm room with Jaborian McKenzie and Brandon Banks, who are also charged with rape and battery.

McKenzie and Banks are awaiting a trial of their own, but served as witnesses for Vandenburg and Batey's. One of the defense's main arguments is that the former two are trying to ensure lighter punishments in their impending trial. The prosecution is insisting that the testimony from within the room, plus hallway surveillance footage and cellphone photos and video paint a grisly portrait, to say the least.

The defense is also arguing that a culture of binge drinking and casual sex, combined with a bit of peer pressure, contributed to the whole incident quickly getting out of hand, the AP reported. In other words, what the defendants did that night was not out of the norm.

But the U.S. Education Department is investigating nearly 100 schools for students' complaints of their rape and sexual misconduct claims being mishandled or ignored. The President has even launched two campaigns to curb campus sexual assault, which he called "an epidemic."

While it was not in place at the time of the alleged gang rape at Vanderbilt's Gillette Hall in June 2013, many states and institutions are adopting what is called a "Yes Means Yes" policy. Under the legislation, participants in a sexual encounter cannot consent if at least one person is under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol.

The prosecution also argued that the alleged attack may have never been reported, which is seen as a major problem in fixing the campus sexual assault "epidemic." Vanderbilt officials only became aware of the incident when investigating a damaged door in the residence hall.

As the jurors are expected to start deliberating by the end of the day, their impending decision could have a major impact on campus sexual assault reform.