Four members of the Vanderbilt University football team are on trial, accused of sexually assaulting one of the player's girlfriends. The players have all pled not guilty. INSIDE EDITION has the latest on the case shocking America.
It's a shocking rape case at one of America’s most prestigious universities.
Four former members of the Vanderbilt football team are accused of sexually assaulting a 21-year-old co-ed in a dorm after a night of drinking and videotaped everything.
Twenty-one-year-old football star Brandon Vandenburg said, “I'm innocent. I am going to fight that until the very end.”
Prosecutors say he raped his own girlfriend and then offered her to his teammates. He is on trial with teammate, Cory Batey. The other two players will be tried separately. All have pled not guilty.
HLN host Nancy Grace shared her opnion of what happened. She told INSIDE EDITION, "The degree of betrayal that this guy, Brandon Vandenburg has exhibited toward his girlfriend. I mean, he basically sliced her up and served her on a silver platter to a bunch of his friends to rape, to sexually exploit."
The co-ed’s roommate, Lauren Miller, testified how she found her in the dorm, dazed and disheveled, the morning after the incident. She said in court, “When I first saw her, my immediate reaction was 'Wow! What happened to you?'”
On Thursday, the alleged victim took the stand. Cameras were not allowed to show her face.
She said, “I never felt like that in my life. I was sore all over but there were certain places I particularly noticed. The worst was my left shoulder. That hurt. My left wrist and also my right knee which was bleeding still.”
She testified that she had no memory of being raped and that her boyfriend, Vandenburg, told her she was drunk and had passed out.
The prosecutor asked, “What did he tell you had happened?”
The alleged victim replied, “He told me that I had gotten sick in his room and he had to clean it up and it was horrible. And he had to spend all night taking care of me and it was horrible. I apologized. I was embarrassed. He was being extremely kind. Nicer than usual.”
The prosecutor then asked, “And then what happened next?”
“He kissed me,” said the alleged victim.
Chris Conte of WTVF-TV in Nashville is in court. He said, “She was hard as a rock. She didn't break down. Today was very tense. It was the first time we had heard from the alleged victim in this case, first hand. There had been a lot of question about whether she would or she wouldn't. Today she finally did. On the stand today she was very calm, she was very composed, she was very sure of herself when she was giving answers to both the defense and the prosecution."
Prosecutors say Vandenburg can be heard giggling on the videotape, which he sent to friends.
The prosecutor asked the alleged victim, “Did you consent to any of the acts that were done to you?”
“Absolutely not!,” she replied.
Nancy Grace told INSIDE EDITION, "The alleged rape and the alleged sex batteries are horrific enough. The videotaping them, bad enough. But the hypocrisy of the boyfriend is really the icing on the poisonous cake."
