HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) — A man who was allowed to remain enrolled at Marshall University despite a rape accusation has been sentenced to a year in jail for violating probation after new sexual assault charges emerged.
A West Virginia circuit court judge sentenced Joseph Chase Hardin on Friday after he took the stand for over an hour of bruising testimony. He says he’s innocent.
The 22-year-old was convicted of battery in the earlier case, where a former student said he raped her in a dorm in 2016.
Prosecutors argued Hardin violated probation when he was charged with raping two other women and by having alcohol.
The college expelled Hardin last month and has said it followed state law and federal regulations in handing the case, including issuing a no-contact order in the earlier case.
