Kentucky’s version of Donald Trump — loser former Governor Matt Bevin — just won’t go away no matter how much Kentucky Republicans wish it. Bevin is an early Christmas present to Kentucky Democrats because he won’t STFU, especially about his criminal pardon fest as he was leaving office. I’m not sure if anyone outside of Kentucky can appreciate how much animosity and possible electoral damage Bevin is generating for Kentucky Republicans. Let’s take a gander at how Bevin is burying himself.
Former Gov. Matt Bevin on Thursday defended his controversial last-minute pardon of a man convicted of raping a 9-year-old, saying there was no physical evidence of her abuse.
Bevin's comments came during a wide-ranging17-minute radio interview with talk show host Terry Meiners, who focused mainly on the case of Micah Schoettle, 41.
Bevin, a father of nine children, was asked how he could defend Schoettle. The former governor replied the victim had been examined and there were no physical signs of rape.
“There was zero evidence,” Bevin said.
Bevin also revealed publicly for the first time the victim's relationship to Schoettle and said that the victim's sister was present during the alleged assaults. The sister has denied the assaults took place, Bevin said.
“Both their hymens were intact. 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 said.
Emboldended is mine.
Yeah, Bevin is claiming to be a medical expert. Too bad what he is talking about is utter bullshit.
Bevin’s claim is flatly incorrect, Dr. George Nichols, who was Kentucky’s chief medical examiner for 20 years and later started the child abuse evaluation system at Kosair Children’s Hospital, told The Courier Journal.
“Rape is not proved by hymen penetration,” Nichols said. “Rape is proved by phallic penetration … where the vaginal lips meet the outer surface of the vagina.
“He not only doesn’t know the law, in my humble opinion, he clearly doesn’t know medicine and anatomy.”
Nichols added that he worked for six consecutive governors as chief medical examiner, “and fortunately I didn’t have to report to that a—hole.”
According to Forensic Science International, a peer-reviewed journal, a survey of pediatric child abuse rape cases indicated that only 2.1% of subjects examined had visible lesions on the hymen.
Kenton County Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders, who prosecuted the 2018 case against Schoettle and has called for an investigation into Bevin’s pardon, criticized the former governor’s comments by saying he “is ignorant of the medicine and science in child rape cases.”
As a reminder, Kenton County Commonwealth Attorney Rob Sanders is a Republican who supported Bevin for reelection. Also, Kenton County is one of those suburban counties that switched from Bevin to Beshear in the last election. Did I mention it was also a Trump county?