Out of jail due to a mistrial, Brandon Vandenburg and Corey Batey will appear in court on Nov. 30 for a retrial on their rape and sexual battery charges.
The former football players at Vanderbilt University were convicted in Jan. of raping an unconscious female student in June 2013 at a campus dorm room. A judge granted defense attorneys a mistrial last month after determining a juror could not have been impartial in the case, the Tennessean reported.
Prosecutors urged the judge to set a date for the new trial as soon as possible, according to the Associated Press. Vandenburg and Batey were in jail awaiting sentencing, but are now free on bond as they wait for their new trial.
The juror in question, who agreed to his identity being released, is Todd Easter. Defense attorneys learned he was the victim of statutory rape as a minor and the man responsible was convicted. Easter said he did not disclose the case during jury selection because he said he viewed the sexual relationship he had with the man to be consensual, the Tennessean noted.
Prosecutors argued against a mistrial by stating it would be unfair to ask the woman in the case to go through another trial. However, Deputy District Attorney Tom Thurman said at a recent hearing said the woman is ready for the retrial, the Tennessean reported.
Two other former Vanderbilt football players, Jaborian McKenzie and Brandon Banks, are also facing rape and sexual battery charges in the same incident. With the new trial, a grand jury issued a new indictment with the same charges and some altered language for all four.
McKenzie and Banks, who await trial, pleaded not guilty, whereas Vandenburg and Batey have yet to enter pleas.
