Multiple arrests made in alleged rape of 19-year-old LSU student followed by death in car accident

Four young men in Louisiana have been arrested in connection with the alleged rape of Louisiana State University student Madison Brooks followed by her death after she was struck by a car in the middle of the night. 

Kaivon Deondre Washington, 18, and a 17-year-old unidentified minor were charged with third-degree rape of Brooks in connection with the Jan. 15 incident, the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office said this week, while 28-year-old Everett Lee and 18-year-old Casen Carver were charged with principal to third-degree rape. 

Louisiana law stipulates that third-degree rape occurs when the victim is too intoxicated to be able to give sexual consent. Investigators claim that Brooks was significantly intoxicated prior to her death. 

One of the suspects in the case claims Brooks willingly consented to sex with two of them before they dropped her off in a neighborhood late at night, after which she was struck and killed by a car. 

Ron Haley, an attorney for two of the suspects in the case, told Fox 8 that Brooks "willfully got into the car" with the victims and that they did not sexually assault her.

"Absolutely not a rape," he said. "Listen, this is a tragedy, definitely not a crime." Haley said he would be turning over video evidence to investigators that he believes will be exculpatory for his clients.