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Marshall Student Faces Sexual Assault Charges After Previous Conviction Against Fellow Student
By: Associated Press
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HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) – A student who remains enrolled at West Virginia’s Marshall University despite a conviction for a 2016 attack against a female student is facing charges of assaulting two more women.
Court records filed Thursday show 22-year-old Joseph Chase Hardin was indicted on second-degree sexual assault charges involving two women in 2018. Hardin was jailed Friday, accused of violating probation for the previous case in which a student says she was raped in her dorm room in February 2016.
Hardin ultimately entered a Kennedy plea to a lesser charge of battery in the 2016 case, allowing him to be convicted without admitting guilt. His lawyer in the probation matter, Kerry A. Nessel, declined comment Tuesday.
University spokeswoman Leah Payne says Hardin remains enrolled. She declined comment on a lawsuit the female student filed against Marshall.