After being convicted of aggravated rape, Brandon Vandenburg spent his first days in alone in a jail cell, after which he would be moved into the jail's general population.
That's where he may soon be reunited fellow Vanderbilt rape convict Cory Batey.
"We the jury find the defendant guilty of aggravated rape," announced the jury Saturday night. Just moments after the guilty verdict, Davidson County Sheriff's deputies immediately took Brandon Vandenburg into custody.
This came after a hard-fought, emotional six-day rape trial. For the first time, Vandenburg showed emotion -- tearing up knowing he may now spend the next 15 to 20 years of his life behind bars.
His mental health was a concern. "From the jail perspective we have to protect the inmate. We put him in 72 hours observation," said sheriff's spokesperson Karla West.
She said after three days a doctor would review Vandenburg's status and then, "Probably he will be put in general populationm," said West.
Yes, Vandenburg, because of the publicity of his trial, was considered a high-profile inmate. But so was his co-defendant Cory Batey, who in April was convicted on similar charges.
Batey and Vandenburg will likely end up back together in the same section of the Criminal Justice Center downtown.
"We have not had any drama surrounding him from other people or from him or Cory Batey for that matter. They have both been very quiet when they have been in our institution," said West.
Vandenburg was on observation alone, but his family was allowed to visit him on Sunday and Monday, likely before they returned this time without him to thier home in California.
Vandenburg was scheduled to be sentenced on July 15, and after that, he'll leave the criminal justice center and be placed in the state prison system.
Cory Batey's sentencing was also scheduled for mid-July. He and Vandenburg will not necessarily be assigned to the same state prison.
