HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — A former Marshall University student accused of committing two off-campus sexual assaults is scheduled to be in court Tuesday in Huntington.
It appears Tuesday’s original trial date will be moved to next year, according to Joseph Chase Hardin’s attorney Kerry Nessel. Nessel told MetroNews Monday he’s still reviewing a large amount of information on the case turned over by the prosecution. There was originally a computer hard drive problem with downloading the information.
Cabell County Circuit Judge Alfred Ferguson will be asked Tuesday to move the trial to next February, Nessel said.
Hardin, 22, is currently in jail after his probation from a 2016 assault of a Marshall University female student was revoked because of the new charges. He pleaded guilty to a battery charge in the original case and eventually was sentenced to three years probation by Judge Ferguson. Ferguson evoked the original one-year jail sentence in July after Hardin was indicted for the alleged late-2018 off-campus assaults.
Nessel said he’ll also ask Ferguson Tuesday to release his client from jail.
Marshall kicked Hardin out of school on June 11, four days days after he was booked into the Western Regional Jail. Hardin was originally expelled from Marshall in March 2016 about a month after the first sexual assault. He appealed and a student conduct panel ruled in his favor. After he was sentenced to probation in the 2016 crime he was allowed back on campus with restrictions. Those restrictions were lifted for the Fall 2018 term.
The student who was the victim in the 2016 case filed a lawsuit against Marshall for its handling of the case. A federal judge found in favor of the university in a July 23 summary judgment. U.S. District Judge Chuck Chambers ruled Marshall University was not indifferent to the former student’s harassment complaint.
Tuesday’s hearing is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.