Former Vanderbilt football player Brandon Vandenburg was found guilty on five counts late Saturday night in the 2013 gang rape of an unconscious woman in a campus dorm room.
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Vandenburg’s defense has argued that he did not rape her and should not be held accountable for what other former players did.
Jurors will have to determine whether Vandenburg, 23, should be held accountable for what happened to the woman, even though he is not accused of having sex with her or touching her sexually. Vandenburg was found guilty previous year but a judge declared a mistrial after it was discovered a juror revealed he had lied about being a victim of an assault.
Prosecutors accused Vandenburg of pushing the victim to drink, and then encouraging his teammates to sexually assault her while she was unconscious.
At one point, Vandenburg searched online, “can police recover deleted picture messages”.
Jury selection took place in Memphis, Tennessee because the judge was concerned the intense media coverage could taint the jury.
The defense had maintained that Vandenburg, a newly-arrived recruit to the Nashville school, had asked teammates outside the dorm to help him carry the unconscious woman into his room after he couldn’t get her into her apartment.
Before ending her closing arguments, Norman played the 49 second video clip Vandenburg shot on his iPhone, showing the victim being raped by other former Vanderbilt football players.
A jury convicted Vandenburg and former player Corey Batey previous year after a trial that featured graphic cellphone videos and photos of the attack taken by the former players.
Vandenburg showed little emotion as the verdict was read. Vandenburg was also found guilty of evidence tampering and unlawful photography. Watkins later declared a mistrial after discovering the jury foreman did not disclose he was a victim of statutory rape.
He can be seen throwing it over a surveillance camera before the other players leave.
‘Mr Vandenburg maybe could have stopped it, ‘ defense attorney Randy Reagan told jurors earlier this week. He is scheduled to be sentenced in July.
Batey was retried in April and found guilty of aggravated rape and other charges.
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Two other players have yet to be tried and are not now scheduled to go to trial.
