Laywers representing Madison Brooks’ alleged rapists have denied that the LSU student was in a drunken stupor when two of the accused had sex with her.
In a press conference on Friday, attorneys Joe Long and Ron Haley questioned the accuracy of body alcohol level (BAC) results showing that 19-year-old Brooks was nearly four times over the legal limit at the time of her death, ABC affiliate WBRZ reports.
Mr Long represents 18-year-old Casen Carver, who is facing principal to rape charges. Mr Haley is the attorney for Kaivon Deondre Washington, 18, and Everett Lee, 28, charged with third-degree rape and principal to rape, respectively.
A 17-year-old, whose name has not been released because he is a minor, is also accused of raping Brooks. The East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office said that the men dropped Brooks off along a roadway where she was later fatally hit by a car.
“If you have a .319 [body alcohol level], your motor skills shut your body down. You can’t walk, you can’t talk, you’re lapsing in and out of a blackout,” Mr Long said. “The evidence we’ve seen so far of Ms Brooks running across the street from Reggie’s undermines the police’s version of events, and until our experts can look at what happened, we believe that the BAC is inaccurate.”
Brooks, an Alpha Phi sorority sister, spent the night of 14 January at Reggie’s bar and met her alleged attackers there.
In surveillance footage released Thursday, Brooks can be seen crossing the street with four people and moving towards the parking lot after leaving the bar.
Footage from the bar also shows Brooks falling over several times, stumbling and struggling to stand in front of at least one of the suspects before they left the bar together, according to an arrest warrant. Investigators said Brooks was then sexually assaulted by the four men in a car before they dropped her off.
But the defence lawyers insisted on Friday that she gave consent when the suspects made sexual advances towards her.
“If anyone does research on what a .319 [BAC] is, that is alcohol poisoning and death,” Mr Haley said.
“Based on her actions that evening leading up to getting in the car with the young men, based on the fact that information from Reggie’s has come out saying that she did not have any alcohol beverage from around 12.50am until the time that she left, gives us reason to believe that those results are inaccurate,” he added.
The attorneys, who said they did not “intend on trying the case on the media,” clarified that the video taken inside the car showed the defendants engaging in a conversation with Brooks, but did not depict them having sex, as was previously reported.
The video will not be released at this time, the legal team said. The attorneys had hoped that the video would exonerate the men, but Judge Brad Myers said it only showed the suspects “callously” laughing at Brooks as she slurred her words, reported local outlet WAFB.
The attorneys also said on Friday that another video of Brooks leaving the vehicle “unharmed” will also be released at a later date. It is unclear whether that footage was obtained from surveillance cameras or recorded by the suspects.
Mr Haley added that Brooks had initially asked the group for a ride to a sorority house near Pelican Lakes, but after an argument unfolded, she allegedly said she would be taking an Uber instead.
“The way this is being reported, taken out of context from the police report, is factually inaccurate,” he said.
Mr Long claimed that the charges against the men were filed because prosecutors wanted “someone to pay” for Brooks’ death.
“We believe that if Ms Brooks was alive, this wouldn’t be a crime. She wouldn’t have complained about it at all,” Mr Long said. “There is understandable anger in the community, and [they] want somebody to pay for her death.”
“We understand that, but our clients did not [commit a crime.]”
Meanwhile, prosecutors in the case have also vowed to upgrade the charges against the alleged attackers.
At a bond hearing on Tuesday, prosecutor Stuart Theriot said that the state would seek upgraded charges of first-degree rape and planned to convene a grand jury in the case. All the adult suspects have since been released on bond.
On Tuesday, Reggie’s Bar also had its liquor license suspended for allegedly serving alcohol to the victim and three of her attackers, who were underage.
The bar has said that Brooks was not served alcohol by staff inside the bar and that she had used a fake ID to get in.
“Even though she entered the bar with false identification, she wasn’t served nor did she consume any drinks at least during the last hour she was at Reggie’s,” the statement read.
“Reggie’s has voluntarily turned over all video surveillance footage to EBRSO and has fully cooperated with EBRSO investigators since they were first contacted and requested to assist on Sunday, January 15.
