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Ex-Vanderbilt football player who encouraged, videotaped rape sentenced

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A former Vanderbilt football player who encouraged his teammates to rape an unconscious female studentwas sentenced Friday to 17 years in prison under a law requiring aggravated rape convicts to serve 100 percent of their time behind bars.





“Please do not use my absence as an excuse for leniency, as it in no way diminishes the profound and insidious impact of Mr. Vandenburg on me and my life,” she wrote. “I still ask that he receive the full sentence allowed under the law for orchestrating a sustained 30-minute gang rape against me, a defenseless woman who trusted him. The minimum sentence is not enough for what this man did to me.”




“My judgment was severely impaired and I’m sad for everyone involved,” Vandenburg said.

The judge reiterated that this has been one of the saddest cases he has ever heard. He said Vandenburg abused the woman’s trust in the man she was dating. “But for him, it would not have happened,” Watkins said.

Cory Batey, Vandenburg’s former teammate, was convicted in a separate retrial and sentenced to 15 years.

The cases of two other former teammates facing rape and other charges - Jaborian “Tip” McKenzie and Brandon Banks, who remain out on bond - have yet to be resolved.

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