Stacey Barchenger

sbarchenger@tennessean.com

Editor's note: This story contains graphic content and may be disturbing to some readers.

A jury found former Vanderbilt University football player Cory Batey guilty of aggravated rape in the assault of an unconscious woman late Friday after a weeklong trial in Nashville.

The jury deliberated about 2½ hours after hearing five days of testimony. Jurors reached their verdict about 11 p.m. On three of seven counts, the jury found Batey guilty as charged of aggravated rape and two counts of aggravated sexual battery.

The aggravated rape conviction, according to Tennessee law, required Batey be taken into custody immediately. He said he loved his family, and they said they loved him too, before he was taken into a back room by court officers.

On four other counts of aggravated rape, the jury returned guilty verdicts on less-severe but related charges. Those verdicts were guilty on: another count of aggravated sexual battery, facilitation of aggravated rape and two counts attempted aggravated rape.

Here is a complete list of charges and jury verdicts for Cory Batey:

Count 1: aggravated rape, penetration of vagina with fingers; guilty of aggravated sexual battery

Count 2: aggravated rape, penetration of anus with fingers; guilty

Count 3: aggravated rape, fellatio on mouth; guilty of attempted aggravated rape

Count 4: aggravated rape, penetration of vagina with penis; guilty of attempted aggravated rape

Count 5: criminal responsibility for Brandon E. Banks penetrating anus with object; guilty of facilitation

of aggravated rape

Count 6: aggravated sexual battery, criminal responsibility for Banks touching genital area; guilty

Count 7: aggravated sexual battery, Batey placing his buttocks on face; guilty

The aggravated rape conviction alone carries a prison sentence of 15 to 25 years in prison. Batey's sentencing is tentatively set for May 20.

The woman left the courtroom surrounded by supporters after the verdicts were read. Earlier Friday, she showed jurors the impact the three-year-old case has had on her: She broke down several times during testimony, including once when prosecutors showed her a picture of the assault.

Vanderbilt rape case

“It’s me,” she said through sobs.

In the final day of Batey's high-profile trial, the woman and Batey both took the stand Friday, and the state and defense teams rested their cases and delivered closing arguments.

As Judge Monte Watkins read jurors the rules they must follow in deciding the case, Batey betrayed his normally stoic composure. He cried quietly, wiping his face with his hands and tissues.

Batey, 22, was charged along with three other former football players.

Batey and Brandon Vandenburg both were found guilty of charges against them last year. A mistrial led to the second trial, and the men were released from jail. Batey's trial began Monday. Vandenburg is scheduled for retrial in June. The two others charged and whose case are pending are Jaborian “Tip” McKenzie and Brandon E. Banks.

Cory Batey testifies, asks for delay in Vanderbilt rape retrial

Since the incident in 2013, the woman has graduated from Vanderbilt. Moved out of state. Celebrated three birthdays. Started a doctorate program.

On Thursday, she took a qualifying exam in her neuroscience program.

On Friday, she walked into a Nashville courtroom.

She hugged former prosecutor Kathy Morante and held back tears. Morante worked on this case and is now with the Metro Nashville Police Department.

"She's my hero, she really is," Morante said of the woman. Because of the mistrial and separating the retrials of Batey and Vandenburg, the woman will have to testify at least three times.

"For everyone she's going to stick it through to the end," Morante said. "I'll be here for her."

Even after her second time on the witness stand, the threats of delays in the case were not done.

Vanderbilt rape retrial: Defense blames alcohol, others

In a confusing series of events, Batey appeared to flip-flop Friday on whether he would testify in his own defense, as he had done before, and asked for a delay.

His lawyer, Courtney Teasley, called Batey as a witness. The lawyers went to meet with the judge in chambers, which had become regular during the trial. Then, Batey met several times with his attorneys in a room off the courtroom that is normally used to hold inmates.

When he emerged, Batey addressed the judge, begging for more time. The judge said the jury was anxious to get home to Chattanooga. They were sequestered in Nashville because of intense media coverage of Batey’s prior trial.

“I would like some time just to re-strategize with my defense team,” Batey said. “I know they’re anxious to get home. I want to be here for my son. I want to put myself and my family in the best position possible."

“Y’all have forced me to do everything.”

Defense expert: Cory Batey did 'jackass things' due to alcohol

Since the incident in 2013, Batey got kicked off the football team. Lost his scholarship to Vanderbilt. Celebrated three birthdays. Spent five months in jail. Fathered a son, now 15 months old.

Batey arrived for trial several days this week with the boy in his arms. More than a dozen people were in court supporting him Friday; his mother has attended each day of both of his trials. She met with him once as he was deciding to testify.

Teasley asked for a delay of even a few hours, saying Batey was not in a sound emotional state to decide whether to testify. Watkins said Batey had all week, if not longer, to decide.

The judge told him he had a constitutional right to testify — or not. Batey decided he would, and said he was not being coerced into doing so.

Batey said he did not remember the night of the incident because he had been drinking. He remembered a party and then waking up for church the next day.

But in his prior statements to police and campus officials, he said he saw Vandenburg with a drunk woman, and Vandenburg asked for help. Batey said he went to the dorm to check on the woman and left within five minutes.

Ex-player: Brandon Vandenburg knew to flush condoms

In closing arguments, Teasley blamed Vandenburg, saying he was a puppet master who told Batey what to do. She urged the jury to find Batey not guilty.

"What happened to (the woman) is not right, but it's not rape," she said.

Surveillance video presented during trial showed Batey and three others were in the room for 32 minutes.

Vanderbilt security officials investigating unrelated vandalism checked the surveillance video for clues and saw four men, one carrying an unconscious woman, going into the room about 2:30 a.m. June 23, 2013.

What they saw grew into a sexual assault investigation, and eventually Metro police detectives found 30 pictures and three videos of the attack on three of the men’s cellphones. The videos show Batey penetrating the woman with his fingers, touching her and sitting on her face, raising his middle finger. Two people testified that he appeared to be having sex with the woman.

The detectives told the woman what they found, and that she had been sexually assaulted.

Until then, she had believed what Vandenburg told her: That she drank too much, got sick, and he took care of her.

READ MORE: About the victim's testimony at the first trial in Jan. 2015.

Ex-player: Brandon Vandenburg knew to flush condoms

She does not remember what happened in Vandenburg’s dorm. She took a drink from Vandenburg late June 22, 2013, and woke up at 8 a.m. the next day, alone, in his room. She felt ill, her shoulder hurt, and the sickness got worse throughout the day.

Even three years later, she still has not seen all the pictures police found on Vandenburg's, Batey's and Banks' cellphones.

Assistant District Attorney General Jan Norman handed the woman just one during her testimony Friday.

The prosecutor's final question for the woman was: "Did you consent to any of that?"

"Absolutely not," the woman said, hanging her head and wiping her tears with a tissue.

This story has been updated to remove incorrect information about how the victim in the case interacted with prosecutors.

Reach Stacey Barchenger at 615-726-8968 or on Twitter @sbarchenger.