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Cory Batey, Ex-Vanderbilt Football Player, Gets 15 Years In Rape Case [Video]

By Patricia Ramirez
Published on: 20:44 PST, Jul 16, 2016

Cory Batey, an ex-Vanderbilt football player, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for raping a co-ed in 2013. While the punishment may seem like “justice,” or even to some “extreme,” the judge in the case actually sentenced convicted rapist Cory Batey to the lightest prison term possible under the law. In April, Cory Batey was convicted of aggravated rape; in Tennessee, the crime carries a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison.

The sentencing of ex-Vanderbilt football player Cory Batey was handed down Friday, reports the New York Daily News.

The victim in the case, who was allegedly raped by Cory Batey and three other football players, gave a tearful victim’s statement at the sentencing hearing. Cory Batey was convicted of aggravated rape for sexually assaulting her while she was unconscious.

Ex-Vanderbilt football player Cory Batey and another alleged rapist, Brandon Vandenburg, were both convicted for their crimes in 2015. However, those original verdicts were tossed after it was uncovered that an original juror didn’t disclose that he had been a victim of statutory rape in his youth. The technicality prompted a retrial of both men, and in April, 22-year-old Batey was convicted a second time. Vandenburg was also convicted once again at his retrial.

The other two players who allegedly participated in the gang rape of the unconscious woman are still awaiting trial.

In addition to raping the unconscious woman, ex-Vanderbilt football player Cory Batey and his accomplices also allegedly took photos of their victim and even reportedly went so far as to videotape their sexual assault, sending the footage of the crime to their friends.

Cory Batey’s victim is now 24-years-old, and at the time of the senseless and unthinkable sexual assault, she was majoring in economics and neuroscience at Vanderbilt. The gang rape reportedly took place in a campus dorm room.

Ex-Vanderbilt football player Cory Batey’s victim mustered the courage to speak out against her rapist in court on Friday, despite her fears and anxiety following the assault she suffered at his hands.

“I was fearful of giving a victim impact statement at all because I know that after three years and everything that has happened, I can never do it justice, and I’m scared of that failure. It will never be possible for anyone to put into words how this has affected me. You will never understand what this has done to me if you aren’t standing in my shoes. The humiliation, the pain, the isolation, being reduced to nothing but a piece of flesh right before your eyes, it does something to you that is truly impossible to describe.”

Following the conviction of Cory Batey, prosecutors had asked the court to impose the maximum possible prison sentence against the ex-Vanderbilt player. In Tennessee, the maximum sentence for aggravated rape is 25 years. According to the prosecutor, he wanted the Cory Batey conviction and sentencing to “send a message” about rape on college campuses in the state and across the nation.

Cory Batey, however, had begged the judge for “mercy,” telling the court that he wanted a “light” prison sentence so that he would be able to raise his child, an 18-month-old son.

“I hope that if not today maybe one day you would find it in your heart to forgive me for any damages I may have caused.”

According to ex-Vanderbilt football player Cory Batey, the violent gang rape combined taking and sharing photographs and video of his crime against his victims were an “unintentional tragedy.”

The judge in the case, Monte Watkins, called it “one of the saddest cases” he has dealt with over the course of his career on the bench. According to Judge Watkins, Cory Batey (and the rest of the convicted defendants in the case) will be dealing with what amounts to “life sentences.” Upon conviction, they are all looking at 15 year minimum sentences for aggravated rape, and after Cory Batey and the rest are released from prison, they will be registered sex offenders for the rest of their lives.

While many are applauding the sentencing of Cory Batey as a “win” for victims of sexual assault, Shaun King of the New York Daily News wrote a piece claiming that Cory Batey’s sentence was an example of racial injustice in America. To buttress his position, he cited the parallels between ex-Vanderbilt football player Cory Batey’s sentence and the sentence of another college athlete, Brock Turner.

There are some definite similarities between the two instances. Both Batey and Turner were shining examples of college athleticism. Both were caught in the act (Turner literally, Batey by virtue of videotaping his crime). The victims in both cases were unconscious. There is also, admittedly, a racial component.

Brock Turner is white and Cory Batey is African-American.

The pair of convicted rapists were also sentenced very differently. Brock Turner will do a few more months in jail (he won’t even have to go to real prison), while Cory Batey will spend the next 15 years in a Tennessee prison.

However, the crimes for which Turner and Batey were ultimately convicted were quite different. Brock Turner was convicted of assault with intent to commit rape of an intoxicated or unconscious person, sexual penetration of an intoxicated person and sexual penetration of an unconscious person. Cory Batey was convicted of aggravated rape. In Tennessee, that means 15 years in prison, regardless of your race.

What do you think? Was the judge correct in giving Batey only the minimum sentence? Should ex-Vanderbilt football player Cory Batey have faced lesser charges so as to warrant a lighter punishment?

[Photo via Samuel M. Simpkins/The Tennessean via AP]

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