Was glad to see the victim stand up and confront her attackers in court. Also, I am usually reluctant to be so harsh, but the report of wailing in the court room by the defendant’s family just turned me off, completely.
Yes. A few of us were talking about this in the UVA thread.
Really the reaction of the family is quite perplexing. With that video and that set of facts what did they honestly expect? He took the girl out on a dinner date, brought her back to his dorm where 3 of his teammates were and the video tells the rest of the story. Their surprise is telling. I guess the rules of society do not apply to their son?
Is it at all possible that the young man’s family has never known this side of him? Can you imagine your son doing such a thing (if you have a son)? How would you react if you found out that your child had done something horrific and actually saw him do it on a video? I can well imagine being shocked and crying out. None of us think our children are monsters; an unlucky few of us are wrong.
Of course a parent would be horrified when seeing such a video. However they should not be horrified or surprised when a jury holds them accountable for their actions. That’s just the way the world works and expectations should be realistic in these unfortunate situations.
To be clear, the crying out was at the reading of the verdict. The video was shown days before during testimony and there was no reaction by the families.
I hope that young men and young women on college campuses learn from this that you are responsible for your actions when you are drunk and out of control.
One article I read said that both men were convicted of 4 of the charges of aggravated rape that each carry 15 year minimums without the possibility of parole. By my calculation, these two young men appear to be facing at least 60 years each.
That should send a clear message to everyone to be more responsible.
I don’t practice law in Tennessee, but often sentences run concurrently.
happy for the convictions.
[QUOTE=""]
Defense attorneys had argued that Vandenburg and Batey should be found innocent because Batey was too drunk to make a conscious decision about his actions, and Vandenburg was too intoxicated to commit an assault.
[/QUOTE]
Sadly at some point, this claim may end up working in some future case. Once it’s been determined that an intoxicated victim can’t give consent, some defense atty will likely use that to make the point that the intoxicated perp can’t “give consent” to commit the crime, either. And some future jury could buy that as a defense.
I had to lol when Bates said he was busy the next morning getting ready to go to church
Very happy that this young woman stuck up for herself and saw it through to trial, she shows great courage. As for the two men, I hope they rot in jail for years. And FWIW I have absolutely no sympathy for their families. You reap what you sow. For those who think they may never have seen this side of their children, I doubt it. It would be highly unusual for a young man with good morals and decency to have a momentary lack of judgement to this extreme even in the case of intoxication. While your inhibitions certainly waiver while intoxicated, your ability to know the difference between acting like a man and acting like an animal does not.
Vandenburg deserves the stiffest sentence of all. He may not have penetrated the girl, but he was the instigator and principal pornographer.
And what about the BYSTANDERS?! Apparently the dorm rooms around hers were aware of the assault and did nothing to intervene – no fire alarm, no 911, no NOTHING… Apparently the “send a check, not my problem” generation has raised children to also feel that nothing is worth their intervention or alarm. Good lord. And here, I am consistently reminding my sons that they are not supermen, to defer to 911 or a local patrol car rather than intervening between drunk bf/gf altercations (both my sons have done this on multiple occasions; they are unconcerned since they feel drunks are easily ducked and they are not about to watch some guy shove his gf around)
Well said.
I am not really sure the public has processed yet what that verdict against Vandenburg means. Or maybe they just do not yet understand the facts in the case. Vandenburg was found guilty on 6 counts of aggravated rape based on the jury finding he was criminally responsible for the actions of Batey who did actually rape the victim. GMTplus7 is correct in that Vandenburg never penetrated the victim but egged the others on.
I think it is fair to say that every college male should make it his business to understand the concept of “criminal responsibility.” This case was very egregious and the videoing and distribution of the video make it even more so. I agree with the jury findings with this set of facts. But the concept of “criminal responsibility” for the actions of another in a rape case can be a very unforgiving tool in the hands of a jury. It should be a wake up call especially to those on college campuses.
I imagine the football program will continue, despite “scandals and bad ink.”
I think it helped this case that the standby of “don’t get drunk at fraternity parties” did not apply in this case. She was on a date with this guy and didn’t “put herself” in a compromised position.
I think it helped that these horrible humans filmed and distributed a criminal assault, because they were so proud of themselves…
Vandenburg seemed honestly stunned that he was found guilty of aggravated rape. He may have thought he would go down for the pictures and videos, but that his “I didn’t touch her, I just documented and directed” defense would work for the other charges.
Not sure if his lawyer convinced him of that or if he is just used to getting away with stuff, but he’ll have a long time to think about his horrid behavior now.
My D saw this on the news this morning and since she applied to Vandy now she’s wondering if she even wants tp go. I told her that since they haven’t accepted her (yet) not to worry about it for now.
Based on her reaction I wonder if they will see a drop in next Fall’s applications.