A Hat Trick for Vanderbilt Footballers as Third Team Member Found Guilty in Campus Rape Case

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Brandon Banks pictured in a police mugshot after his 2013 arrest for the rape of a student on campus in Vanderbilt. Police handout

A jury in Nashville Friday convicted former Vanderbilt footballer Brandon Banks for his role in the 2013 gang rape of an unconscious female student in a teammate's dorm room.

Banks, 23, was found guilty on one count of aggravated rape and one count of aggravated sexual battery, The Associated Press reported.

Aggravated rape carries a minimum 15 year sentence. Banks was acquitted on five other charges.

"We are very satisfied with their verdict," Assistant District Attorney Roger Moore told Reuters.

Banks' lawyer, Mark Scruggs, told the Tennessean after the verdict his client was "shocked but understands that this is only the first part of this process, there's a lot more to do from here on."

"We have some really good issues to raise."

The 2013 case sparked national concern over sexual assaults on university campuses in the U.S. There was outrage in 2016 when a Stanford swimmer was given what critics alleged was an unduly lenient sentence after being found guilty of sexual assault.

Banks is the third member of the team found guilty of a role in the attack, following the 2015 convictions of Brandon Vandenburg and Cory Batey, in what was subsequently declared a mistrial.

Batey and Vandenburg were sentenced to 15 and 17 years in prison respectively in retrials.

A fourth player accused of involvement in the attack, Jaborian "Tip" McKenzie, who testified against his teammates, has yet to stand trial.

Banks testified at his trial, and claimed he had taken part in the attack out of fear of retribution from teammates that night and later on the football field.

He claimed he was bullied by teammates because he was smaller than them and was taunted for not sleeping with many women because he had a girlfriend, AP reported. He claimed not to have been culpable for his actions.

The men used cellphones to film the attack, with the footage used as evidence in their trials.

The 21-year-old victim testified in the trials.

She had met Vanderburg, whom she was dating at the time, at a bar popular with students on the night of the attack, Reuters reported.

Vanderburg tried to take her, unconscious, back to her apartment, but could not get in, and took her to his dorm, where the three other men allegedly involved in the attack helped carried her to his room, where they assaulted her.

Banks will be sentenced on August 18.

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