Good. Hopefully he will get more than a 6 month jail sentence.
It will be many, many years.
Great!
Thankful that the jury got it right. And Tennessee law has it right. I believe his minimum sentence is fifteen years, but I think (hope) he will get more than that. There are no winners, but the survivor does have some justice.
Good.
@dstark I believe the Judge has to sentence both Batey and Vanderburg to a minimum of 15 years without parole. I do not think he has any discretion under the laws of that jurisdiction for “aggravated rape.” He only has the discretion to make the sentence longer - up to 25 years.
Justice served.
What about the other players involved? Weren’t there two more?
There are 2 more. They have not yet been tried. I expect to see plea bargains. One testified in both cases.
It seems strange to me that this pair have been tried twice, and the other two not at all yet. I guess that this has something to do with your expectation of plea bargains…
They tried the two main defendants first.
When you read comments to articles like one I just read about the guilty verdict, it can really destroy your belief in humanity. The winner: “She shouldn’t have gone to his room if she didn’t want sex.” Yeah, she “went to his room.”
Had to stop reading.
Never read the comments!
And then there’s this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQbei5JGiT8
(Apologies if this has already been posted on CC. I don’t recall where I saw it.)
Hard to imagine how the mother thought her son should be found ’ not guilty’. So much evidence and tape showing his responsibility and depraved actions. Yeah I get she loves her son, but at some point tough love needs to step in and she should acknowledge punishment is in order
Well, I’m sure the mother was clinging to the same defense as Corey Batey- they were so drunk they didn’t know what they were doing. I’ve always thought Vandenburg does not look “all there”. I really think he might be mentally deficient. I’m not sure how that was all going to work out for him at Vanderbilt, actually. Fortunately, the coach that recruited him is no longer there. Also- I never got the thing with Vandenburg wearing a v-necked sweater to court every day. I can’t tell you how hot it is here- it really seemed odd.
Do you remember the first trial of the Menéndez brothers? Their lawyer dressed them in sweaters so they would appear younger. Vandenburg is 6’6". He is huge when you see him standing next to his lawyers.
Slept better last night than I have in a week. This trial has been weighing on my mind. S is a former classmate of the victim/survivor. She is a very brave young woman.
I do feel bad for Vandenburg’s mother - it seems like she had unrealistic expectations for the outcome. I get why the younger brothers were not there at the verdict, but I can’t understand why the father was not there. I have read some information (don’t know about accuracy) that the dad is not respectful of women. The parents are divorced and there are some reports that the dad had assaulted the mom, now ex-wife. The Vandenburgs also have a daughter (I believe college age) so they should have empathy for the victim/survivor in this case. I wonder if they had Vandenburg wearing a sweater to make him appear younger. I believe he’s wearing orange today.
Good point on making him look younger.
“I do feel bad for Vandenburg’s mother” – I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: for every person heading to prison, there’s likely a broken-hearted mom and dad helplessly crying for their child…