For some reason, I didn’t really follow this case as closely as I’ve followed some others. But I just watched a 20/20 special on it that aired right after the first verdict. I saw V’s upset parents, and I get that they believe in his innocence because he did not actually rape the girl himself. But I wonder how they rationalize the other despicable things he did that are well documented: his laughing face while carrying her body into his room, the attempts to hide his face from cameras, the laughter on the audio with him encouraging his teammates to engage in specific vile acts, his texts to the victim the next day, the evidence of tampering related to videos, and on and on. Do they really buy the defense lawyers stance that the ONLY THING he did wrong was film the atrocities? That’s some pretty strong denial to the point of almost being delusional imo.
Vandenburg has been added to the Tennessee sex offender registry. He is listed as a violent offender.