Rape and Domestic Violence Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Senate Moves To Remove Marriage Exemption To Sexual Assault

Marriage would no longer be a defense in cases of sexual assault if a Senate Bill becomes law.

Senate Bill 190 removes the defense of marriage from the definition of sexual contact and removes marriage as a defense to first and third-degree sexual assault.

Sen. Ryan Weld, R-Brooke, explained the purpose of the bill to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“As it stands now, an individual could not be found guilty of sexual abuse in the first degree, if they were in fact, married to the victim, is that correct,” Weld asked of counsel. “And so that’s the distinction that we’re here making today, potentially within Senate Bill 190, so that would be what is called the marital exception. So we would be removing that.”

Senate staff counsel confirmed what Weld said.

The prosecuting attorney for Monongalia County, Gabrielle Mucciola, testified before the committee. She said that the marital exemption is a barrier to prosecution in crimes involving a marriage.

“These cases are wildly underreported,” Mucciola said. “And I would say that this exemption creates just another hurdle for victims of sexual abuse and sexual assault to come forward and feel comfortable that West Virginia adequately protects them.”

Opponents of the bill voiced concerns about false reporting and “he said, she said” arguments. Sen. Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, spoke in opposition to the bill.

“I wish that I could feel confidence in the checks and balances and judicial system that we have,” Rucker said. “But the reality is that in this day and age, there are many, many cases where individuals who are angry with each other, disappointed by each other, fighting and trying to take advantage of our system to try to hurt the other person because of whatever, angry, whatever has occurred. And they’re not always truthful.”

Weld spoke in favor of the bill, citing his trust in the justice system’s ability to try these crimes.

“The decision before us right now, is whether we want to signify to the married people around this state, man or woman and to the rest of the nation for that matter, that it is a crime to sexually abuse your spouse. That is the question for us,” Weld said. “Are we going to allow for spouses to be sexually abused in the state? Or are we going to put a stop to that and find that there is no difference? Whether or not you sexually abuse your spouse, or whether you sexually abuse a stranger off the street?”

Sen. Jay Taylor, R-Taylor, apologetically supported the bill.

“I’m sorry to, you know, some have encouraged me to vote against this bill,” Taylor said. “But I just I have to vote yes, because I respect my wife, and it just does not make sense to me that this is in our laws. And I understand that the argument about well, it could get abused. Well, all of our laws get abused by so many different things.”

The bill passed by a roll call vote of 13 to 4 and was read on first reading on the Senate floor Friday.

More Than $800,000 Will Help W.Va. Sexual Assault Victims

U.S. government statistics reveal one in six women will experience an attempted or completed rape at some time in her life, and it is estimated that a majority of female rape victims are younger than age 18.

The $801,797.00 in federal grant funds announced by Gov. Jim Justice on Thursday will provide core services, direct intervention, and related assistance to victims of sexual violence at the state’s 12 regional rape crisis centers.

Nancy Hoffman, state coordinator with the West Virginia Foundation for Rape Information and Services, said this money pays for frontline assistance.

“It does provide the opportunity for our centers to do 24/7 crisis intervention,” Hoffman said. “To have phone lines and advocates available 24/7 to go to the hospitals with victims for support if they have a forensic exam.”

The annual funding is administered through the West Virginia Sexual Assault Services Program. Hoffman said it’s not a new revenue stream.

“This is actually the 15th year of the funding,” Hoffman said. “It has increased over the years and enables our 12 regional rape crisis centers to be able to provide those services. When the funds first were appropriated on the federal level, those funds only supported nine centers in the state. Now, with increased funding, we are able to support 12.”

Hoffman said while the grant is large, providing 24/7 crisis intervention for all 55 counties carries a cost that averages out to $14,545 per county. She says it doesn’t cover all that’s needed.

“We are reliant on support from the state,” she said. “We’re reliant on other grants and community donations to be able to provide those services.”

Hoffman said West Virginia statistics mirror those numbers.

She said West Virginia’s arrest rates are remarkably low, noting that in 2019, 88 percent of the sexual assaults that were reported to law enforcement were not cleared, and only 9 percent were cleared by arrest.

Hoffman said about only one third of sexual assault victims actually do report to law enforcement, so the reporting numbers are low.

“That’s something that we’re certainly looking into with our partners,” Hoffman said. “We’re hoping that the legislature will consider doing a study on that to see if we can drill down even deeper to determine why people are reluctant to report.”

Actor Chris Sarandon Returns to WVU for Staged Reading

Notable actor and Beckley-native Chris Sarandon will be in Morgantown this week presenting a play to the public, for free …about physical and sexual abuse.

The play Not Someone Like Me is a collection of monologues about the real experiences of physically and sexually assaulted women, and how they deal with life afterwards. Sarandon explains, it’s meant to be read and performed to benefit rape crisis centers. He’s been working for several years with his friend and the playwright Susan Rice to develop the show.

“Susan actually approached me and said, I’d love for you to direct this. I said, ‘Oh Susan, shouldn’t it be a woman?’ And she said, ‘No, actually, the audience of the play should be men,’” Sarandon remembered.

This week’s readings at West Virginia University will be the college premiere of the show. Sarandon is the first College of Creative Arts alumnus to take part in the college’s new Alumni Residency Series, during which alumni of the schools of art and design, music, and theatre and dance are returning to work with students. The cast will include students and faculty members from the School of Theatre and Dance.

The staged readings will take place Sept. 18 and 19 at 7:30 p.m. in the Creative Arts Center’s Antoinette Falbo Theatre. Following each performance, Sarandon and the cast will also take part in a “talk back” with the program coordinator for WVU’s Sexual Assault Prevention Program.