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According to Nashville police, Austyn Carta-Samuels did not help move the victim's passed out body after an alleged rape and sexual battery took place in a Vanderbilt dorm this summer.
Carta-Samuels, Vanderbilt's starting quarterback, had been implicated by text messages sent by former wide receiver Chris Boyd as playing a role in helping move the victim after the fact. Those texts came to light last Friday when Boyd filed a conditional plea to avoid jail time, leading many to question Carta-Samuels's role in that night's events and whether or not a suspension loomed in his future. However, recent statements from the District Attorney's office refute the idea that the quarterback had interacted with Boyd that night:
At the recent plea agreement of former Vanderbilt football player Chris Boyd, text messages were read that Boyd had sent and received from other individuals. One text from Boyd to former student Corey Batey read in part ‘me Carta and Vanderwal and Vandenburg helped us move her out of the hallway’, referring to the victim who was lying in the hall of the dorm. However, based upon the evidence collected to date, Boyd wrongly identified student Austyn Carta-Samuels as someone who participated in helping move the victim. Carta-Samuels and Dillon van der Wal are both listed as witnesses in the rape case against four former Vanderbilt students. Van der Wal and another student were involved in moving the victim from the hall to a dorm room, but that act alone does not constitute a crime.
- Susan Niland, Spokesperson for the District Attorney's office.
Carta-Samuels is still expected to be called as a witness in the case. Van der Wal is as well, though his role in the nights events - and how much he knew when he reportedly helped move the victim - are still unclear.