The attorney for the family of late Louisiana State University student Madison Brooks has criticized her alleged rapists for making her the victim of a “smear campaign” — calling their claims that she consented to sex the night of her death “absolutely shameful “.
Kerry Miller, a lawyer for Brooks’ parents, ripped the accusers’ legal teams for basing their claims on apparent tapes that have not yet been released — and which a judge said could even strengthen the case against the four accused rapists.
Miller blasted rival attorneys for denying that Brooks was too drunk to consent, even though authorities said her blood-alcohol content was 0.319 percent, nearly four times the legal limit.
“For them to come out and mention evidence they have and not show it, to contradict a gold standard blood alcohol test and not say on what basis they’re doing it, it’s a made-up smear campaign, absolutely shameful,” Miller told WAFB in an interview in Saturday.
Attorneys for the accusers held a press conference Friday in Baton Rouge, claiming Brooks had “consensual sex” with two of the four defendants in the back of their SUV shortly before she got out and was fatally struck by another vehicle.
The phone videos were reportedly taken by Kaivon Deondre Washington, 18, who is accused along with a 17-year-old — who cannot be identified because of his age — of third-degree rape of Brooks, based on her too drunk to consent.
The two others in the car at the time — Everett Lee, 28, and the driver, Cason Carver, 18 — were charged with third-degree statutory rape, meaning they witnessed but did not participate.
Their defense attorneys at a news conference Friday disputed many of the findings in the case, based largely on footage from the night.
One of them, Ron Haley, had also shared a similar message in a series of earlier interviews.
However, he claimed that they “do not intend to pursue this case in the media”.
“However, we intend to state the relevant facts in this case while being as sensitive as possible to all parties involved,” he said.
That includes the fact, he said, that “the two defendants who engaged in consensual intercourse with Ms. Brooks did so after obtaining verbal consent.”
Instead of being dumped, the video shows that Brooks then “left the car of her own accord, saying she was going to take an Uber,” Haley said.
“He can be seen on video leaving the car unharmed and in good health. This will be confirmed with a video recording,” he said, stressing that the videos did not show any of the sexual acts.
Another defense attorney, Joe Long, said video footage from that night — including one of Brooks running after the four men to get into their SUV — proved she couldn’t have been as drunk as they claimed. the authorities.
“If you hit .319, your motor skills stop your body,” Long said.
“You can’t walk. You can’t talk. You go in and out of a blackout and risk death,” he stressed, saying the videos “undermine” the accuracy of police findings.
Although legal teams have not yet released the videos, they were seen by District Judge Brad Myers – who told a hearing they showed one of the suspects “callously” laughing at Brooks.
Myers also revealed that another video showed Brooks falling and needing help getting up before having sex in the car.
“The evidence to me is clear,” Myers said at a hearing.
District Attorney Hillar Moore told the same outlet that enhanced charges of first-degree rape have not yet been completely ruled out.
“At this point they are under arrest for third degree rape based on their lack of ability to consent to sex.” First degree rape is obviously a much more serious crime and it’s when someone is raped by more than one person — by two people or more — and obviously those are the charges,” Moore said.
There is also the question of whether the 17-year-old charged in the case can be tried as an adult.