Vanderbilt Rape: Football Team Peer Pressure Made Him Do it, Attorney Says

NASHVILLE, TN — Teammates of former Vanderbilt University football player Brandon Banks were "pressuring and goading" him into participating in the dorm room gang rape of an unconscious woman in 2013, Banks' attorney argued as his trial opened in Nashville Monday.

Banks' trial is the fourth in the case, which has consumed the campus community for nearly four years. The trial of Banks' former teammates, Brandon Vandenburg and Corey Batey, was declared a mistrial after it was discovered the jury foreman had not disclosed during jury selection that he was the victim of a sexual assault. Both Vandenburg and Banks were found guilty in a subsequent trial and sentenced to 17 and 15 years in prison, respectively. A fourth defendant, Jaborian McKenzie, pleaded not guilty and is expected to testify against Banks, who is charged with five counts of aggravated rape and two counts of aggravated sexual assault. (For more updates on this story and free news alerts for your neighborhood, sign up for your local Middle Tennessee Patch morning newsletter.)

The crucial evidence for the prosecution, as it has been in the previous trials, is 41 extremely graphic mages and videos of the rape itself, taken on the men's cell phones. In her opening statement, Brandon Banks' attorney Katie Hagan said her client should face a lower level of responsibility than the men already convicted.

"Mr. Vandenburg was pressuring and goading Mr. Banks," she told the jury, according to The Tennessean.

Assistant District Attorney Jan Norman, in her opening statement, detailed the events of the night which started at the Tin Roof on Demonbreun. She said Banks carried the victim's "lifeless" body into Vandenburg's dorm room and used a water bottle to rape the woman, while taking photos with his phone. Norman said laughter can be heard in one of the videos recovered from the phone.

The victim, as she has in the previous trials and sentencing hearings, is likely to testify, though victim rights' groups have criticized the process, saying that the victim is being forced to constantly relive the event and re-confront the men who attacked her.

Photo by Lacy Atkins/The Tennessean via AP, Pool