HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) - A trial has started in West Virginia for a man who was allowed to remain enrolled at Marshall University after a rape accusation but then was expelled when two additional women said he sexually assaulted them.
The trial of Joseph Chase Hardin, 22, is the first criminal case to be heard in Cabell County Circuit Court since it reopened during the coronavirus pandemic, WCHS-TV reported.
Cabell County Assistant Prosecutor Kellie Neal said in opening arguments that Hardin and the first woman met at church when he was a Marshall senior. The pair went to a park and the woman allegedly was raped twice in October 2018, Neal said.
Neal said the second woman went to police after finding a blog post that the first woman had made. The second woman accused Hardin of raping her in August 2018.
Hardin’s attorney, Abraham Saad, said “the evidence will show that Chase is innocent of these charges.”
Hardin was convicted of a misdemeanor battery charge after a former Marshall student said he raped her in a dorm room in 2016. Last year he was sentenced to a year in jail for violating probation in that case.
The university expelled Hardin in June 2019 after it learned of the latest allegations.
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