Vanderbilt rape case: Graphic details emerge during Chris Boyd's hearing
Plea deal allows Boyd to avoid felony conviction
Sep. 13, 2013
A plea deal in court Friday morning led to the first major revelations about a growing Vanderbilt University rape scandal, a case prosecutors say involves multiple attempts at a cover-up by players, possible cocaine use by a top recruit and the participation of the team’s starting quarterback in moving the unconscious rape victim back into the dorm room of one of her attackers.
Vanderbilt wide receiver Chris Boyd, 21, of Roswell, Ga., pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of trying to help cover up the June 23 rape of a 21-year-old Vanderbilt student in a dorm room. The plea deal allows Boyd to escape a felony conviction, any time spent in jail and a permanent mark on his record — so long as he testifies against four teammates charged with rape and stays out of trouble for a year.
The plea also opened the door to new, disturbing details about the early morning hours of June 23, when prosecutors say four of Boyd’s former teammates raped the student while she was unconscious. Deputy District Attorney General Tom Thurman said in court that Boyd, Vanderbilt tight end Dillon van der Wal and starting quarterback Austyn Carta-Samuels carried the partially nude woman from a hallway where she had been dumped back into the room of one of the men prosecutors say sexually assaulted her.
Those details drew Vanderbilt University even deeper into the rape case, prompting officials there to address prosecutors’ allegations that their tight end and star quarterback not only had information about the rape, but were actually in the dorm shortly after it happened.
“As of this date, no additional players have been suspended or dismissed from the football team. Vanderbilt is monitoring the criminal process,” wrote Beth Fortune, vice chancellor for public affairs, when asked about the inclusion of van der Wal and Carta-Samuels in prosecutors’ account of the rape.
Later Friday, she released an additional statement reading, “As new information becomes available, we will review it and take appropriate action.”
Before boarding a plane to South Carolina, Vanderbilt football coach James Franklin declined to discuss Boyd’s future or any of the in-court allegations involving the two players still on Vanderbilt’s roster.
“I can’t talk about anything other than the South Carolina game,” he said. When pressed about the team’s tight end and quarterback, he replied, “All the statements have been made from the university at this time.”
Van der Wal and Carta-Samuels have been previously listed by prosecutors in court records as witnesses in the rape case.
'He is paying for that decision'
Boyd, who was dressed in a dark suit at the hearing, responded only with, “Yes, sir” to a series of questions from Judge Steve Dozier as to whether he understood the guilty plea. He could have faced up to two years in prison on a felony charge of accessory after the fact.
“He’s a 21-year-old young man that was forced with making a decision in a situation that he did not fully understand,” his attorney, Roger May, said after the plea hearing. “He is paying for that decision, and he will be paying for it the rest of his life.”
At the hearing, Thurman offered the first detailed look into what happened that morning in the dorm room of star football recruit Brandon Vandenburg. In reading a statement he had prepared in advance, he said that Vandenburg, 20, had been out with the woman at the Tin Roof bar and brought her back to his dorm room at Gillette Hall.
There, Thurman said, Vandenburg was joined by three teammates: Cory Batey, 19, of Nashville; Brandon Eric Banks, 19, from Brandywine, Md.; and Jaborian McKenzie, 18, from Woodville, Miss. Thurman said they raped the woman, unconscious by that time, and that Vandenburg sent a text to Boyd showing her being sodomized with an object. Vandenburg then called Boyd, telling him she had been “messed with in the hall” and sexually assaulted in his room. Thurman said Vandenburg told Boyd he was on cocaine when the sexual assaults occurred.
When Vandenburg asked Boyd for help, Thurman said, Boyd came to Vandenburg’s room.
Once there, he found the woman in the hallway, passed out and “not fully clothed.” In a text message read by Thurman, Boyd indicated that van der Wal and Carta-Samuels helped move the woman from the hallway back into Vandenburg’s dorm room.
“Nah she doesn’t know anything that happened but she passed out in Vandenburg’s bed,” read a text message from Boyd to Batey, according to Thurman. “Me Carta and Vanderwall (sic) and Vandenburg helped us move her out the hallway.”
“Tell him don’t say nothing to anybody,” Batey responded, according to Thurman.
Earlier came texts from Boyd, urging Vandenburg to delete a video of the incident.
“Tell ur boys to delete that (expletive). I’m looking out for your ass,” Boyd texted to Vandenburg, Thurman said. “And tell your roommate he didn’t see (expletive).”
Thurman said Boyd lied to authorities at first about the case, but later talked candidly with police and prosecutors.
That cooperation became key in the plea negotiation. After the hearing, Thurman declined to say how important Boyd’s testimony could be, but made it clear that he would expect it if the case goes to trial.
“Obviously what we do in the judicial system is try to do justice and do what we think is fair,” Thurman said. “Mr. Boyd has an exemplary record pretty much. You know, he’s going to Vanderbilt to school and we felt it would be significant if maybe he could complete his education. And as long as he’s now cooperating with authorities fully and will testify in the more serious case … .”
He didn’t finish his sentence.
Additional arrests not anticipated
The more serious case refers to Vandenburg, Batey, Banks and McKenzie, each charged with five counts of aggravated rape and two counts of aggravated sexual battery in the rape of that woman. Vandenburg also is charged with one count of unlawful photography and tampering with evidence. All four are free on bond and scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 16.
Two of Vandenburg’s friends from California, Miles Finley, 19, of Bermuda Dunes, Calif., and Joseph Quinzio, 20, of Palm Desert, Calif., are charged with tampering with evidence in the case. Both are awaiting extradition in California.
Thurman said after Friday’s hearing that he didn’t anticipate any additional arrests or charges in the case, including against Vanderbilt’s coach. He acknowledged an online rumor that Franklin knew more than he has publicly acknowledged, but only to shoot it down.
“There’s been allegations about Coach Franklin. We just wanted to state clearly that there’s no evidence whatsoever where Coach Franklin was involved in any way in the cover-up or has done anything inappropriate. He’s cooperated with us,” Thurman said.
“Now if someone is out there that feels they have knowledge of criminal conduct by someone at Vanderbilt they should come forward and tell the police that.”
Franklin’s attorney, Hal Hardin, praised authorities for not only convicting the guilty, but “protecting the innocent.”
“One of the most difficult things that any person can go through is to be the victim of rumors, unfounded rumors, and know that you’re innocent,” Hardin said of Franklin. “Some folks probably owe him an apology for spreading those rumors, but he has weathered it like the true champion he is.”
McKenzie's brief time at Alcorn
None of the four charged are currently playing football. McKenzie, who is free on $50,000 bond, transferred and played in a game Saturday at Alcorn State University in Mississippi. But he was removed from that team Thursday night by the university president, who said the school had made a mistake in allowing him to play.
His relatively low bond amount has been interpreted to mean he is cooperating with authorities, and officials at Alcorn have said as much in defending his brief participation on their team.
It’s unclear if Boyd will be able to don a Vanderbilt uniform again. Vanderbilt University spokeswoman Beth Fortune said Boyd will remain suspended from the team pending further review of his status. He remains on academic scholarship and has been attending classes.
He’ll be on unsupervised probation until Sept. 12, 2014, and will be expected to pay court costs, which were not yet calculated in records of his plea agreement.
“Mr. Boyd is an individual that found himself in a situation that he did not create,” said May, his attorney. “He made some mistakes in handling or attempting to help that situation. He has learned a painful lesson.”
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20130913/NEWS03/309130145
