Matt Bevin Defends Pardoning Convicted Child Rapist Because ‘Hymens Were Intact’
Former Republican Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin pardoned a convicted child rapist as one of his final acts in office because the victim’s hymen was intact, he claimed during an interview on Thursday, despite the fact the fact that that’s not medically or criminally relevant.
In a radio interview with commentator Terry Meiners, Bevin said he pardoned 41-year-old convicted child rapist Micah Schoettle because “there was zero evidence.”
“Both their hymens were intact,” he declared. “This is perhaps more specific than people would want, but trust me. If you have been repeatedly sexually violated as a small child by an adult, there are going to be repercussions of that physically and medically.”
Bevin made that plural because, as he revealed to the public for the first time in this interview, the victim’s sister was allegedly present during the assaults. Note that assault is also plural, here.
Kentucky medical examiner Dr. George Nichols, however, responded to the interview by stating that Bevin’s justification makes no sense.
“Rape is not proved by hymen penetration… Rape is proved by phallic penetration… where the vaginal lips meet the outer surface of the vagina,” Nichols explained to the Courier Journal. “He not only doesn’t know the law, in my humble opinion, he clearly doesn’t know medicine and anatomy… and fortunately I didn’t have to report to that a–hole.”
As noted by the Courier Journal, which cited the Forensic Science International journal, “a survey of pediatric child abuse rape cases indicated that only 2.1% of subjects examined had visible lesions on the hymen.”
According to NPR, on his way out of office, Bevin pardoned “hundreds” of rapists, murderers, and other convicts after losing his reelection campaign last month.
