Madison Brooks latest news: Suspect in LSU student case arrested for alleged rape three years ago

Attorneys Joe Long and Ron Haley claimed on Friday that the charges against the four men accused of raping Brooks were filed because prosecutors wanted “someone to pay” for her 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.]”

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.

Nineteen-year-old Madison 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 near Pelican Lakes.

She was then hit by a car and died at a hospital.

One of four suspects charged in the rape of LSU student Madison Brooks — who was fatally hit by a car after the alleged assault — has been arrested in connection with a second rape dating back to 2020.

Kaivon Washington, 18, was charged this week with third-degree rape in the 15 January incident involving Ms Brooks, then posted bond on Thursday and was released in Baton Rouge. On Friday, he turned himself in to authorities in Livingston Parish, about a half hour away, where he was booked on a count of first-degree rape stemming from an incident three years ago, according to The Advocate.

Arrest documents show that a 12-year-old girl told police Washington had raped her at a pool party in Walker in May 2020, the newspaper reported. He allegedly followed her into a room at her apartment, pulled off her towel, threw her on the bed and raped her while covering her mouth, according to the affidavit.

“After me saying no about four or five times, he pushed me, he pulled my towel off and he pushed me onto the bed and he raped me for almost an hour,” the sobbing victim told local journalist Kiran Chawla.

A bar where 19-year-old Lousiana State University student Madison Brooks met three underage males accused of participating in her rape has a history of previous violent incidents.

The Louisiana Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control announced on Tuesday that it was issuing an emergency suspension for Reggie’s bar in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, following the tragic death of Brooks on 15 January.

According to the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office, four men Brooks had met at the bar allegedly raped her before dropping her off in a severely intoxicated state along a road in a neighbourhood near Pelican Lakes Parkway.

It has since emerged that it is not the first that Reggie’s – located in the area dubbed Tigerland – has come under fire over violent events.

The Daily Mail reports that the popular bar also had its license suspended in 2017 after police executed a raid and found minors drinking inside.

In May last year, a 16-year-old boy was fatally shot outside the bar, while another woman was wounded.

Before that, a woman was allegedly raped in the parking lot and a man pointed a loaded gun at patrons, according toThe Advocate. In 2016, LSU tight end Dillon Gordon was allegedly stabbed at the bar.

In a press conference on Friday, attorneys Joe Long and Ron Haley 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.

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.

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.

They 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.

Brooks, 19, was allegedly sexually assaulted in a car on 15 January after a night of drinking in a Baton Rouge bar before being left on a dark road in the early hours of the morning, at which point she appears to have been struck by accident by a passing car, dying later in hospital of her injuries.

On 23 January, Kaivon Deondre Washington, 18, and a 17-year-old male who has not been named because of his age were charged with third-degree rape.

Mr Washington’s uncle, Everette Lee, 28, and Casen Carver, 18, were also charged with principal to rape.

Here is a timeline of everything we know about the case so far:

In a statement to The Independent, the East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner’s Office confirmed that 19-year-old Brooks died from multiple traumatic injuries secondary to a “motor vehicle versus pedestrian collision” that she suffered in the early morning hours of 15 January.

Authorities have said that the driver was not impaired when the accident took place and that they stopped the vehicle and contacted emergency services immediately upon realising that Brooks was hit, Fox News reported.

Two good samaritans then administered CPR on Brooks in the heavy rain before she was taken to a hospital where she later died.

The East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office revealed on Monday that a severely intoxicated Brooks was dropped off along a road in a neighbourhood near Pelican Lakes Parkway after she was allegedly raped.

In a statement published on Monday, LSU’s Feminists in Action decried president William F Tate’s response to the alleged sexual assault that 19-year-old Brooks suffered before being dropped off by the suspects along a roadway and fatally hit by a car on 15 January.

The group demanded that Mr Tate use his “energy to fix the sexual violence our community faces instead of using alcohol as a scapegoat.” Mr Tate had previously said that the university plans to investigate why the establishment where 19-year-old Brooks met the men accused of raping her was serving alcohol to minors.

“While students are grieving the loss of our peer and fearing for our safety and well-being, your administration directs its attention to the underage consumption of alcohol. This response is inexcusable,” the group said.

The statement added: “These four individuals were arrested for ‘third-degree rape’ and ‘principle to rape’; not underage drinking nor driving under the influence.”

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.

The Independent has the story:

Kaivon Deondre Washington, 18; a 17-year-old male who has not been named due to his age; Everette Lee, 28; and Casen Carver, 18, were charged on Monday with the sexual assault of 19-year-old Brooks.

The East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office said that a severely intoxicated Brooks was callously dropped off along a road in a neighbourhood near Pelican Lakes Parkway after two of the suspects allegedly raped her in the early morning hours of 15 January.

Brooks was hit by a vehicle and died hours later in the hospital.

On Wednesday, Mr Lee and Mr Carter, who are facing charges of principal to rape, were released after posting bonds of $75,000 and $50,000, respectively, local news station WBRZ reported.

Mr Washington also posted bail on Wednesday.

Under the bond terms, the released suspects were ordered not to make social media posts about the case or make contact with Brooks’ family, to submit for random drug testing and be placed on house arrest and to wear an ankle monitor. The 17-year-old’s bond hearing has been postponed to February.