Funeral for Madison Brooks
Mourners outside St. Peter Catholic Church dressed in pink in honor of LSU student, Madison Brooks’ favorite color ((KR/Mega for Fox News Digital).
A video clip of LSU sophomore Madison Brooks slurring her words in the back of a car surrounded by her accused rapists was “hurtful and shameful,” Brooks’ mother’s lawyer told Fox News Digital.
Lawyers for the suspects released a 29-second cellphone recording to local news outlet WBRZ 2, which aired the video along with an interview with the lawyers on Feb. 13.
In the video, Brooks is seen in the back seat, flanked on either side by two men, saying through slurred speech, “I’m sorry that I offended you that bad. Get out. Get out. I’ll call an Uber on my own.”
One of the suspects is seen exiting the back passenger-side door of the car, and Brooks follows and is heard calling the driver, “Gay.”
That’s where the recording ends. Brooks, 19, was hit by a car shortly after and died in the hospital.
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Madison Brooks in an undated photo. (@madibrookss/Instagram)
Kerry Miller, who’s representing Brooks’ mom, Ashley Baustert, called the video “hurtful and shameful,” and said every time the defense leaks another short clip, it “cuts like a knife” into his client.
In late January, a four-second video was released to local news outlet WAFB 9, which appeared to show Brooks jogging behind her alleged attackers as they were leaving Reggie’s bar in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
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The group was seen walking from the bar to their car before the video cuts out.
“It’s one thing to defend your clients. It’s another to try the case in the media,” Miller said. “It shows a level of desperation.”
Ron Haley, a lawyer who’s defending one of the suspects, told WBRZ 2 in their Feb. 13 interview that Brooks used “very vulgar language to the driver.”
“Implying that he’s not straight based on him not wanting to engage in certain activities with her,” Haley said. “It doesn’t put anyone in the best light, but again, not being put in the best light isn’t the same thing as rape.”
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Haley didn’t return Fox News Digital’s request for comment or a request for the video, and it’s unclear how long the entire recording is.
Four suspects were arrested in connection with Brooks’ alleged rape.
From left to right: Kaivon Deondre Washington, Casen Carver and Everett Deonte Lee. The fourth suspect, a minor, has since been identified as Desmond Carter. (East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office)
Desmond Carter, whose name had been withheld until Wednesday’s grand jury hearing because he was 17, was indicted on first-degree rape, which is punishable by life in prison without parole, as well as third-degree rape.
Kaivon Washington, 18, was also charged with third-degree rape, which in Louisiana involves sexual intercourse that “is deemed to be without the lawful consent of a victim,” according to state law.
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The other two suspects – Casen Carver, 18, and Everett Lee, 28 – were charged with principal to third-degree rape for allegedly sitting in the front of the car while Brooks was sexually assaulted by Washington and Carter in the back seat after a night of drinking.
The district attorney has discussed upgrading charges against the other suspects as more evidence is presented to the grand jury, but DA Hillar Moore’s office didn’t return Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
A portrait of Madison Brooks sits outside the church for her funeral in Covington, LA, Friday, February 3, 2023. Brooks, a 19-year-old sophomore at LSU, was allegedly raped before she was fatally struck by a car in the early morning hours of Jan. 15. (KR/Mega for Fox News Digital)
Washington has since been arrested and charged with two more alleged rapes in Livingston Parish in 2020 and the same area of East Baton Rouge in October 2022.
In 2020, he was 16 and his alleged victim was 12, according to court documents, and the more recent rape accusation nearly mimicked the circumstances in Brooks’ alleged rape.
Like Brooks, the victim in the October 2022 incident drank at Reggie’s and met Washington and another man, who was referred to in court documents as her “acquaintance,” 18-year-old Karson Jones.
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Brooks was laid to rest on Feb. 3 in Covington, Louisiana.
“My beautiful angel, one and only daughter, and best friend that was taken way too soon. I promise to honor you, your legacy and will do everything in my power to ensure no other family has to endure the pain we have faced,” Baustert wrote in a Facebook post.
