BATON ROUGE — The attorney representing one of the three men arrested in the alleged sexual assault of Madison Brooks says he’s never seen prosecution like he is now in this particular case. Casen Carver’s trial has now been pushed to November, his attorney said.
“I can’t remember them spending these kind of resources on a case like this in my 28 years as a lawyer,” Carver’s attorney Joe Long told UWK. Long said he’s surprised by the intensity of the prosecution in a case that is not a murder.
Meanwhile, Madison Brooks’ mom has now taken her daughter’s case to Governor Jeff Landry, even reaching out to the Attorney General.
Carver is one of three people charged in what authorities say was a rape of Brooks in January 2023. They had all been at Reggie’s in Tigerland when Brooks ended up in Carver’s car along with Desmond Carter, Kaivon Washington and Washington’s uncle.
Brooks, 19, was drinking at Reggie’s and hugging and dancing with Carter before the group left. Brooks was at the bar for several hours. Carver, who was driving, told deputies upon his arrest that Brooks had lost track of her friends and she asked him for a ride home.
The sheriff’s office said that after the group left the bar, Carter and Washington had sex with Brooks, who was too drunk to consent, in the car. Carver is not accused of having sex with Brooks, but is accused of recording some of what happened on his cell phone.
Carver, now 22, is charged with first-degree rape, third-degree rape and video voyeurism. He would be in prison for life if convicted on the first-degree rape charge.
Brooks got out of Carver’s car in a subdivision. She was hit by a car on Burbank Drive at Pelican Lakes Parkway and later died at a hospital. The person who hit her was not impaired and was not arrested. Sheriff’s office records show that her BAC at the hospital was 0.319, which is high enough to be medically dangerous. A BAC of 0.08 is considered presumptive evidence of drunken driving in Louisiana.
Joe Long, who represents Carver, said the trial is now scheduled for Nov. 16. It will be a bench trial, which means the case will be heard only by the judge. No jury is involved.
MORE FROM UWK:
- Update: Supreme Court overturns Judge Gail Horne Ray’s recusal in case
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The case, which became national news, has been through changes of charges, disagreements over the admissibility of evidence, appeals and a fight over whether Judge Gail Horne Ray should be recused from the case. The state Supreme Court in May put Ray back in charge of the case.
Long said his client has steadfastly refused to even consider taking a plea deal in the case, even as it has dragged on for more than three years.
He said the public has been riled up by coverage of the case in the media and particularly by discussions on social media.
“They want a pound of flesh. They want someone to pay for her death,” he said.
He said Brooks’ death is a tragedy, but “not all tragedies are crimes.”
Brooks’ mother Ashley Baustert met last week with Gov. Jeff Landry to discuss the case. A post on the governor’s Instagram account said that Brooks’ family “has been through something no parents should ever have to endure. We look forward to justice being served.”
MORE FROM MADISON BROOKS’ MOTHER
- It’s my duty to demand her case go before an impartial court,’ mother says | DA files motion to recuse judge in Madison Brooks case
- Madison Brooks Mom: “It’s very hurtful. I don’t get a break” in response to defense attorney’s latest motion
Baustert said Tuesday that she couldn’t publicly discuss what happened during that meeting.
Carter’s trial is set for August. Washington’s trial has not been scheduled.
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