Morgantown Police Maintains ‘Soft Interview Room’ For Trauma Survivors

Soft interview spaces are set up in law enforcement facilities to document victims’ stories.

Del. Evan Hansen, D-Monongalia, presented the Morgantown Police Department (MPD) and the Rape & Domestic Violence Information Center (RDVIC) Tuesday with $2000 for continuing maintenance of the Judy King soft interview room.

Soft interview spaces are set up in law enforcement facilities to document victims’ stories. According to Texas-based Project Beloved, a nonprofit that helps police departments install soft interview rooms, a space that is comfortable rather than stark allows the participant to feel physically and emotionally safe and can have a significant impact on the interview process.

The Judy King Soft Interview Room first opened five years ago to the day on April 5, 2017.

RDVIC Executive Director Alexia Jennings said it gives “a safe space to survivors to tell their stories and to ensure that as a community we are providing trauma informed victim centered services to survivors in Mon County.”

According to Tuesday’s presentation, Morgantown’s soft interview room is the first of its kind in West Virginia.

Reckoning with Sexual Assault: Righting a Wrong

Two college freshman spend a night together. There’s inexperience, miscommunication and things go wrong — really wrong.

One of them calls what happened sexual assault, the other calls it rape. But together, they’ve found a remarkable way to recover, heal and learn.  

For this episode, Trey speaks with Stephanie Lepp, the producer of the podcast “Reckonings” about the story of Anwen and Sameer and one night that has changed their lives.

Senate Passes Sexual Assault Victims' Bill of Rights, Eyes Related Legislation

The West Virginia Senate has passed legislation that creates a sexual assault victims’ Bill of Rights. Other related legislation that would help victims is also being considered.

 

Senate Bill 39 seeks to codify best practices in the wake of a sexual assault. For example, the bill would allow victims to choose someone to accompany him or her to a hospital or other health care facility and to attend proceedings concerning the alleged assault, including police and prosecution interviews as well as court.

 

Sen. Mike Woelfel said the purpose of the bill is to modernize the way sexual assault victims are treated and hopes it encourages victims to come forward.

 

“I believe that in our state — in virtually any state — you have probably one out of three or four girls that is sexually abused in her lifetime — and probably one out of seven boys. So, it’s a grossly under reported crime,” Woelfel said.

 

Senate Bill 39 passed on a 33-0 vote and now heads to the House.

 

A companion measure, Senate Bill 36, seeks to expand DNA testing and streamlines the process of obtaining results. Sen. Woelfel, who is also the lead sponsor of that legislation, outlined some of the issues that brought about the bill.

 

“The rape kit, once it gets to the state police lab, sits there on average 440 days. So you can have — frequently, if not commonly — a two year delay between a rape and the evaluation of the evidence,” Woelfel said. “Can you imagine how many sexual assault victims after two years have turned the page in their life? That’s unacceptable.”

 

The Senate Health Committee is expected to be take up that bill.

 

Us & Them : Feminism Is The Word

 

Merriam-Webster declared that the word for 2017 is ‘feminism.’ The term was the most-looked-up on their online dictionary, and there were 70% more searches for the word this year than in 2016. Trey feels this couldn’t be more timely because this year, he’s seen women effecting a change in the balance of power in ways that he’s never experienced before. In a way, he sees the whole thing like an earthquake that’s been a long time in coming.

He’s trying to wrap his mind around what the New Year might hold for the sexual misconduct “tsunami” the earthquake has unleashed. To try to get a handle on all of this, Trey sits down with his friends Lauren Schiller of the *Inflection Point *podcast and Nancy Giles of the CBS Sunday Morning Show and The Giles Files podcast.

 

From West Virginia Public Broadcasting and PRX, this is “Us & Them,” the podcast where we tell the stories about America’s cultural divides. Subscribe to “Us & Them” on Apple Podcasts, NPR One or wherever you listen to podcasts. Share your opinions with us about these issues, and let us know what you’d like us to discuss in the future. Send a tweet to @usthempodcast or @wvpublic, or leave a comment on Facebook.com/usthempodcast. This episode is part of a series made possible with financial assistance from the West Virginia Humanities Council, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. And if you enjoyed this episode, join our community and sustain “Us & Them” with a pledge of support.

Ex-Baseball Player Released from Prison, to be Tried Again

A former Charleston Wheelers baseball player convicted in a 1987 sexual assault case whose sentence was recently vacated has been released from prison, but his freedom remains uncertain.

Forty-nine-year-old Jimmie Gardner was released on bond Friday, after serving over 25 years in prison. Gardner was convicted in 1990 of sexually assaulting a Kanawha City woman and beating her mother. He was sentenced to 33 to 110 years in prison.

A judge vacated Gardner’s sentence last month, based on false testimony given by former state police forensic serologist Fred Zain, whose discredited work resulted in millions of dollars paid to wrongfully convicted defendants.

However, prosecutors said Friday that they will try Gardner again, citing fingerprint evidence against him. A new trial date has been set for May 16.

Judge Asks to See Evidence Before Sentencing School Director

A Harrison County judge has asked attorneys on both sides to turn over evidence before he sentences a woman who has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges in connection to her running of a Salem boarding school for troubled youths.

The Exponent Telegram reports that Chief Judge Thomas A. Bedell recently requested to see the evidence in the case of 69-year-old Susan Gayle Clark, who directed the now-closed Miracle Meadows School.

Clark is to be sentenced April 1 after pleading guilty to misdemeanor child neglect creating a substantial risk of injury, misdemeanor failure to report by a mandated reporter and misdemeanor obstructing a law enforcement officer.

Clark says she regrets not firing an employee accused of putting a student in handcuffs. She also has admitted to not properly reporting an accusation of sexual abuse or sexual assault.

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