BATON ROUGE — A Baton Rouge judge ruled Tuesday that the state must turn over more evidence to a defense lawyer representing a man indicted in the rape of Madison Brooks, an LSU student struck by a car and killed along Burbank Drive in early 2023.

Over the state's objections, Judge Gail Ray said lawyer Joseph Long was entitled to see more of the evidence gathered against Casen Carver, one of four men to leave a Tigerland bar with Brooks early on Jan. 15, 2023. Three men were accused of first-degree rape. The fourth man in the car was arrested but not formally charged.

Long filed a motion in March alleging that an unidentified LSU student had sex with Brooks the night before she left Reggie's Bar with Carver, Kaivon Washington, Desmond Carter and Everett Lee. He also said that Brooks had confided in a friend about what had happened in the earlier encounter.

Investigators have said injuries Brooks sustained that were consistent with a sexual assault that occurred in Carver's car on Jan. 15, 2023.

Long says they actually happened Jan. 14, 2023, when she was with the LSU student identified in court papers under an alias.

"(His) testimony will gut the State's theory of the case," Long said in his motion March 11.

The document has since been sealed from public view.

"I can't talk about the substance (of the hearing) because it was a closed hearing. I can tell you we were happy with the judge's ruling," Long said.

After the ruling, the district attorney's office said it would work to provide the defense material to which it is "legally entitled." Prosecutors have said they are already providing the defense with the names of all witnesses interviewed.

District Attorney Hillar Moore III said he wanted to ensure that any trial held would be fair to both sides.

"The State and victim's family want to move this matter forward to trial, however not at the expense of jeopardizing a trial that is fair," he said.

The state can appeal Ray's ruling, but wouldn't say whether it would do so. Long said it was his belief the state would take the case to Louisiana's 1st Circuit Court of Appeal. 

Carver is charged with rape even though there is no evidence that he had sex with Brooks. The woman died after being dropped off in a neighborhood about 3½ miles from Tigerland and being hit by a car on Burbank. Long has said the evidence he obtained previously undermined the investigators' allegation that Brooks was sexually assaulted in Carver's car.

The next hearing was set for Sept. 4.