Bevin defends pardon of convicted child rapist, citing commonly used 'myth'

Warning: Some of the information below could be deemed graphic.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Former Gov. Matt Bevin said he pardoned a convicted child rapist because the victim showed no signs of physical evidence.

On Terry Meiners' radio show Thursday night, Bevin was asked about his pardon of Micah Schoettle, one of hundreds of pardons the former governor issued before leaving office, who was sentenced in 2018 to 23 years in prison for raping a 9-year-old girl in Kenton County.

Bevin said Schoettle was accused of raping the girl and her sister for more than a year, every week, dating back to November 2016. But this is the reasoning Bevin gave to Meiners as to why he pardoned Schoettle, who was less than 18 months into his sentence.

"These girls, both, were examined medically, examined physically ... there was zero evidence, zero," Bevin told Meiners. "Both their hymens were in tact. This is perhaps more specific than people would want, but trust me, if you've been repeatedly sexually violated as a small child by an adult, there are going to be repercussions of that physically and medically. There was zero evidence of that."

The U.S. National Library of Medicine says "an examination of the hymen is not an accurate or reliable test of a previous history of sexual activity, including sexual assault."

Bevin went on to say one of the sisters ended up denying anything ever happened.

A jury found Schoettle guilty in August 2018 of nine charges dating back to November 2016: first-degree rape of a victim under 12 years old, three counts of incest with a victim under 12 years old, two counts of first-degree sodomy with a victim under 12 years old and three counts of sexual abuse of a victim under 12 years old.

Both the mother of the victim and the Commonwealth's Attorney for Kenton County were angered by the pardon.

"It feels like we're going through it all over again," the girl's mother said. "We just got to the point where we felt safe leaving the house."

Bevin also defended his pardon of Patrick Baker, a man convicted of killing someone in Knox County in 2014. Baker and his attorneys held a press conference earlier this week to profess his innocence.

"If you were guilty of murder and someone pardoned you and let you out would you immediately come out and say 'I want a federal investigation into my case' if you knew you were guilty? If you were guilty, would you be doing that? Of course you wouldn't," Bevin said.

Baker is expected to file a wrongful conviction lawsuit in his case.

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