The men charged after the death of Louisiana State University sorority student Madison Brooks took video that proves she was neither raped nor dumped on the side of the road, an attorney representing two of the defendants has claimed.
Lawyer Ron Haley told WAFB that at least one of the four accused took video during the 19-year-old student’s final car ride on Jan. 15 that proves her death was “a tragedy, definitely not a crime.”
It shows that she “willfully got into the car” after being abandoned by her friends — then getting out to grab an Uber before she was fatally hit by another car, the attorney stated.
Before then, she had “consensual sexual acts” with two of the accused — which was “absolutely not a rape,” Haley told WAFB.
Kaivon Washington, 18, and a 17-year-old, who has not been identified because of his age, have both been charged with raping Brooks. Everett Lee, 28, and Casen Carver, 18, are charged with principle to third-degree rape, meaning they witnessed it but did not participate.
Haley — who represents Washington and Lee — also claimed the footage shows that Brooks was not black-out drunk at the time and capable of consenting to sex.
“Can you tell, that she was intoxicated? Yes. To the point under the law that you say you’re in a drunken stupor, to the point that you cannot lawfully give consent or answer questions? Absolutely that was not the case,” Haley told the local outlet.
The attorney separately told DailyMail.com that “the video does not show a sexual act.”
Instead, four clips filmed by Washington show Brooks using “choice language” with Carver as the driver grows increasingly frustrated at her changing her mind on where she wants to be taken.
“It is [a] conversation – pretty much an argument – between her and the driver,” the attorney said of four videos recorded by Washington.
“Carver was frustrated that this was the third address that she had given and she wanted to go apparently to another location.
“It’s him saying, ‘Listen we can’t do this all night, make up your mind where you want to be,’” the attorney said.
“She gets upset with them and uses some choice language directed at Carver.
‘After that, he verbally asked her to get out of the vehicle. She acquiesces and says, ‘That’s fine, I’ll Uber to wherever I need to go next,’” the attorney said.
“She got out” of her own accord — and only “after they had driven off” was she “hit by another vehicle,” the attorney said.
“They did not just dump her out of the car,” Haley maintained. “They did not force her out of the vehicle,” he added, saying one of the videos showed her getting out.
“I think at one point one of the others tries to calm the situation down and say, look just kind of get back in the car. She doesn’t want to,” he stated.
“I want the public to know, these young men … did not put her off on the side of the road,” Haley told WAFB.
The attorney stressed that the trio he is representing have “expressed their remorse” to him.
“‘Nobody wanted her to die, It is a tragedy and they are upset,” he said.
“There’s no winners in this. … Someone has lost their life, these young men may lose their freedom,” he said.
Haley predicted to WAFB that the videos from inside the car would acquit his clients fully.
However, the Mail said the footage was presented before a Tuesday bond hearing, where Judge Brad Myers said it showed the “evidence was clear” that there was proof of criminality.
LSU president William Tate called the student’s tragic end “evil.”
“She should not have been taken from us in this way,” he said in a statement.
Reggie’s bar — where the mostly underage group had been drinking that night, and where Brooks reportedly worked — had its liquor license revoked.