West Virginia Senate passes bill that would remove marital exemption for sexual abuse

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Married people in West Virginia could be charged with certain sexual assault acts against their spouses for the first time under a bill passed by West Virginia’s Republican-dominated Senate on Monday.

The bill, pushed by former prosecuting attorney Republican Sen. Ryan Weld of Brooke County, would remove marriage as a defense to first- and third-degree sexual assault. It now heads to the House for consideration.

“The marital exception exists or has existed in code for quite some time,” Weld said on the floor Monday. “And I think now is the time to correct an injustice.”

Weld explained that there are two crimes of sexual violence outlined in West Virginia code: One is penetrative rape, and the other is the forcible touching of a person’s sexual organs, breasts, buttocks or anus by another person. For the latter offense, a martial exemption exists that shields a person from conviction if the crime is perpetrated against their spouse.

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Even if the couple is legally separated, an individual accused of this kind of sexual abuse couldn’t be charged.

Until 1976, a married person couldn’t be charged with penetratively raping their spouse. That law was changed at the urging of the former Republican Sen. Judith Herndon, who was the only woman in the Legislature at the time.

Weld honored Herndon on the floor Monday before the bill passed 22-9, with three senators absent or not voting.

“This is carrying on what I believe to be an unfinished job that she wasn’t able to get done before she unfortunately passed away in 1980,” Weld said of the bill.