James Franklin is about 700 miles from Vanderbilt as Penn State's new football coach, but he hasn't yet gotten away from the Vanderbilt rape case against four of his former players, which cast a cloud over his final season at the Commodores helm.
Defense attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the case Tuesday, alleging not only evidentiary misconduct by the prosecution, but interaction between Franklin and the victim, who was connected to the football program.
Referring to records, attorneys said Franklin and former Vanderbilt director of performance enhancement Dwight Galt contacted the victim during a medical examination four days after the alleged crime to say "they cared about her because she assisted them with recruiting," according to tennessean.com. Attorneys also alleged Franklin called the victim in for a private meeting about assembling a "pretty" team of female recruiting assistants, in knowing violation of NCAA rules. It is unclear whether that meeting was held before or after the alleged crime.
Franklin declined comment when reached, and also declined to listen to the defense attorneys' claims.
Text messages and phone records from Franklin, Galt, and associate director of athletics Kevin Colon are among the records defense attorneys claim the prosecution has failed to provide. Their request for those records dates back to November.
Former Vanderbilt football players Cory Batey, Brandon Vandenburg, Brandon Banks and Jaborian McKenzie are charged with crimes including aggravated rape and aggravated sexual assault of an unconscious female student in a Vanderbilt dormitory last June. All four were dismissed from the program and expelled from school. Former Vanderbilt wide receiver Chris Boyd, an NFL prospect hoping to be chosen next week in the NFL draft, was not present during the crime, but was suspended from the team for allegedly assisting a cover-up attempt. He was allowed to remain in school and pleaded guilty to a reduced misdemeanor charge in exchange for testimony against his former teammates.
Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter @ChaseGoodbread.
