DA: Vanderbilt Players Giggled, Texted During Rape

Jurors in the rape trial of two ex-Vanderbilt football players have watched surveillance video of a female student being carried into a dorm, put in an elevator, and dragged out after the doors opened. Four former players are accused in the alleged rape of the unconscious female in a dorm room at the Nashville school in June 2013, but as WSMV reports, Brandon Banks and Jaborian "Tip" McKenzie have turned state's evidence. Brandon Vandenburg and Cory Batey are on trial. All have pleaded not guilty.

Jurors were shown a video today of Vandenburg carrying the woman inside the dorm and other football players behind him around 2:30am. Earlier, in opening statements, Deputy District Attorney General Tom Thurman told jurors that the former players giggled, shot video, and sent text messages while they sexually abused her in an assault that began in a hallway. He described in sometimes explicit language how one former player assaulted her with a water bottle while a teammate egged him on. He said one of the players passed out condoms and assaulted her. The school's surveillance video prompted the investigation, but prosecutors say the rape took place in a dorm room. (More Vanderbilt University stories.)