Former Kentucky governor says "no corroboration" in conviction of child rapist he pardoned
There is outrage tonight from the family of a child rape victim after former Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin defended his pardon of the girl's attacker with shocking — and questionable — claims.
Bevin is under attack for issuing pardons and commutations to rapists and murders and he defended the release of one of them: 41-year-old Micah Culver Schoettle, a convicted child rapist. Bevin spoke about it on a local radio show.
"This man was convicted purely on something that there's no corroboration for," Bevin said.
Bevin said there was no physical evidence to prove Schoettle raped the 9-year-old girl or her sister who denied it happened. Schoettle was convicted and sentenced last year to 23 years for rape and incest.
"These girls both were examined medically. They were examined physically. there was zero evidence, zero," Bevin said. "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."
Dr. Jocelyn Brown, a Columbia medical center pediatrician who specializes in child sexual abuse, told CBS News that "when they have trauma, when come to a specialist, the trauma has healed."
Bevin granted the nearly 600 pardons in his last days as governor a bipartisan group of Kentucky lawmakers are calling for an investigation. Kenton County prosecutor Rob Sanders, who oversaw the Schoettle case and once supported Bevin, is outraged by the former governor's actions.
"It's offensive, it's mind-boggling how any governor could be this irresponsible," Sanders said. "It's an abomination of the criminal justice system."
It is not just this case that has caused outrage. Bevin's pardons of some convicted murderers have also enraged family members of those victims. Some have called Bevin's actions a betrayal
