A Louisiana man accused of gang raping Louisiana State University student Madison Brooks before she was fatally hit by a car has asked that Brooks’ supporters be banned from wearing pink in the courtroom at his trial.
Desmond Carter, 21, who is charged with others of sexually assaulting Brooks, 19, in a car in Baton Rouge in 2023 just before her death, claimed that Brooks’ family and friends have repeatedly worn pink – Brooks’ favorite color — in court in an effort to intimidate the jury into a guilty verdict, according to WBRZ.
The stunt violates Carter’s right to a fair trial, which is scheduled to begin on Aug. 17, by creating a “carnival atmosphere,” Carter’s attorneys claimed in a motion filed in June, citing previous Supreme Court decisions.
Carter’s lawyers pointed to several social media posts of family and friends asking people to attend court sessions wearing the color pink to ensure Carter spends the rest of his life behind bars.
Prosecutor Sonya Cardia-Porter, who has asked the motion be denied, called the allegations an “absurd exaggeration” and “unpersuasive,” describing Brooks’ supporters as “silent, passive spectators wearing a particular color.”
Cardia-Porter asked the judge to instruct the jury to “disregard any attire or display from spectators.”
A judge is expected to make a decision on Tuesday.
Carter currently faces charges of first-degree and third-degree rape.
Brooks, a 19-year-old college sophomore, was allegedly raped in the backseat of a car by Carter, who was 17 at the time but is being tried as an adult, Kaivon Washington, 21, and Casen Carver, 22 after the group left Reggie’s bar in East Baton Rouge where Brooks worked and they had been drinking heavily in Jan. 2023.
The defendants have claimed that the encounter was consensual before they left her on the side of a roadway.
Footage from the car shows Brooks arguing with her alleged attackers before she stumbled out of the car.
Investigators said Brooks had a blood-alcohol content of 0.319% — nearly four times the legal limit — when she stumbled onto the busy road.
The driver of the rideshare car was arrested, but was ultimately not charged as he was not under the influence and immediately called police.
The East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner’s Office concluded that Brooks died from “traumatic injuries” after she was raped.
