Vanderbilt Rape Case: Judge Grants Defense a Mistrial, Ex-Football Players Get New Trial
ByBrandon Vandenburg and Corey Batey, two former Vanderbilt football players convicted of rape and sexual battery, will get a new trial after a judge determined a juror could not have been biased due to his past experience.
Nashville Criminal Court Judge Monte Watkins declared Vandenburg and Batey's case a mistrial, granting a recent motion from defense attorneys, the Tennessean reported. The defense brought forth their motion because one of the jurors in the case was the victim of sexual assault as a teenager.
Read the full text of the judge's ruling here.
During jury selection Todd Easter, who agreed to have his identity made public, did not disclose that another man was convicted of raping him. At a hearing for the mistrial motion, Easter said he did not think it was relevant information because he considered the sexual relationship with the man at the time to be consensual.
"The defendants have a right to a fair and impartial trial, a right that was violated by Juror No. 9's misconduct," Judge Watkins wrote in his decision. "By failing to disclose being the named victim in a twenty-three count statutory rape indictment, the presumption of jury bias was met."
Vandenburg and Batey were convicted on charges of aggravated rape, attempted aggravated rape and sexual battery for an incident in June 2013, the Associated Press noted. They and two other former Vanderbilt University football players, who await their own trial, were accused of raping an unconscious woman in a dorm room.
Declining to comment on Watkins' decision through her attorney, the victim appeared at Vandneburg and Batey's trial every day and testified as well, the Tennessean reported. The two men were released from jail while a new court date is sought.
"This ruling does not, in any way, affect the evidence that exists; nor does it affect the state's resolve to vigorously pursue justice in this matter,"the Nashville District Attorney's Office said in a statement. "Justice may be delayed but it will not be denied."