James Franklin Implicated in Vanderbilt Rape Case Defense Filing; Attorneys Say Coach Contacted Alleged Rape Victim During Investigation

Attorneys for a former Vanderbilt football player requested Tuesday for the judge to dismiss the case, but the filing also contained serious allegations against James Franklin.

First reported by the Tennessean, attorneys for Brandon Vandenburg filed a 24-page report accusing the prosecution of failing to prevent the destruction of evidence. The defense alleged "crucial and material information to the defense of Vandenburg was destroyed or not preserved."

They also implicated Franklin, Vanderbilt's former head football coach, interacted with Vandenburg's alleged victim during the criminal investigation. In July 2013, four players were dismissed from the Vanderbilt football team and later charged with aggravated rape. Vandenburg was also charged with destroying evidence for allegedly deleting a video recording of the incident.

A fifth player, Chris Boyd, was later charged with conspiracy and obstruction for knowing about the alleged rape and not telling investigators. He pled to a misdemeanor in Sept. in exchange for his testimony against his former teammates.

Attorneys representing Vandenburg, who the alleged victim was reportedly dating at the time, said Franklin and Vanderbilt football's former director of performance enhancement Dwight Galt visited her privately.

When Franklin took the head football coaching job at Penn State, Galt was among the several staff members to come along.

The filing alleged the two checked in on her because "they cared about her because she assisted them with recruiting," the Tennessean reported. The defense accused Franklin of encouraging a system where female students helped the football staff recruit high school players.

"Coach Franklin called her in for a private meeting and told her he wanted her to get fifteen pretty girls together and form a team to assist with the recruiting even though he knew it was against the rules," the filing said. "He added that all the other colleges did it."

Neither Franklin, Penn State nor Vanderbilt wished to comment after the Tennessean's report. Franklin did, however, release a statement denying he did anything wrong. In Sept., authorities had already cleared Franklin and said he cooperated with the investigation.

"The allegations that I did something wrong are simply not true," he said. "I have cooperated fully with the authorities in this matter but, out of respect for the legal process, I am not able to comment any further," according to the Tennessean.

The defense attorneys alleged thousands of text messages, hundreds of calls, certain social media posts, police interviews, notes, medical records and DNA results are missing from the evidence. They also said they were provided with video surveillance footage missing a majority of its contents.

Franklin is set to leave on a 17-stop coach's caravan tour Thursday and will address the media in State College before the bus departs.