Former attorney Fletcher Long discussed legal strategies for the defense in the Vanderbilt rape retrial.
Fletcher Long was a lead defense attorney during the first Vanderbilt rape trial. He has since moved on to another profession, which made him free to discuss the case.
"I'm going to give you a bombshell here," said Long. He now works a long way from the courtroom, but former attorney Long still puts on a show, The Long Version, at WJZM Radio in Clarksville.
I joined him for the current topic: The second Vanderbilt rape trial.
Long had insight to the legal strategies considering he was a defense attorney the first time around.
He said the legal team for Cory Batey has faced an uphill climb. "I've seen all the video and heard the audio and it's compelling and staggering," said Long.
He was referring to, among other things, the cell phone video from inside the Vanderbilt dorm of the alleged sexual assault of a female student.
Most agreed the video clips were crucial in leading to the convictions of Batey and Brandon Vandenberg the first time.
Those verdicts were thrown out because of juror misconduct, but the new jury will see the same damaging videos.
So what can Batey do differently this time to get a different result? "I think he has to throw Vandenburg under the bus," said Long.
Batey and Vandenburg were tried together in the first trial. Long said there was something of a unified defense last time, but "They are in separate trials now, and that will probably increase the finger pointing," said Long.
As for whether there's any chance of a plea agreement before next Monday, Long doubted it.
He suspected the prosecution felt they again had a very strong case with no incentive to offer Batey a deal.
Barring any surprise developments, the trial was expected to begin Monday morning.
Nick Beres and Newschannel5 legal analyst Nick Leonardo was set to anchor our gavel-to-gavel coverage on Newschannel5Plus and streaming on Newschannel5.com.
