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• Video of Finley Stadium rape victim shown in court• Woman raped on morning jog in Chattanooga recounts details in hearing
Devontavious Bryant
Finley Stadium tileLess than a week before their cases are set for trial, prosecutors have elected to try separately two men charged with raping a woman near Finley Stadium in 2012.
Assistant District Attorney General Cameron Williams told Judge Don Poole on Thursday prosecutors plan to sever the defendants' cases, trying Deacon Williams first. Williams was 16 when police say he and Devontavious Bryant, then 18, attacked a 30-year-old woman during her morning jog.
Their trial was set to begin Tuesday, but it's not clear whether the severing of defendants will affect that timeline. Both men are charged with aggravated assault, aggravated rape and aggravated robbery. Cameron Williams said Monday the state plans to try them on charges of aggravated rape and robbery.
As co-defendants, the two would not have been able to testify against one another.
On Monday, Cameron Williams showed the court an emotional video of the woman in the hours after police say she was raped. The two followed her and demanded her money, phone and mp3 player before choking her and pushing her to the ground, she told police. She said both Williams and Bryant raped her and then ran off.
She flagged down a driver who called police. The video Poole saw Monday was taken in the police cruiser.
Williams and Bryant are set to return to court this morning.