HINTON, W.Va. — Defense motions have been filed in the case of a Summers County man charged with sexually assaulting and strangling 10 women.
A hearing was held in Summers County Circuit Court Monday for Matthew Keaton, 32, of Pipestem.
Summers County Prosecuting Attorney Kristin Cook said one of the motions by Keaton’s attorney has to do with discovery issues regarding digital evidence.
“It’s a complicated case,” Cook told MetroNews Tuesday. “When you’re talking digital evidence, think of phones, think of iPads, think of computers, all of those different things that take time and store a lot of information that has to be sorted by all parties from the state and from the defense.”
Cook told Summers County Circuit Judge Robert Irons during a status hearing in Dec. 2023 the victims have hundreds of images of Keaton’s alleged assaults.
Keaton was indicted by a Summers County grand jury in Nov. 2022 on 21 counts including charges of sexual assault, sexual abuse, strangulation, possession and production of child pornography and criminal invasion of privacy. He faces similar charges in Mercer County.
State Police arrested Keaton in Oct. 2021 after the women reported being drugged and violently raped while being recorded.
The accusations date back to when Keaton was 18 years old. All of the victims knew Keaton and were different ages, police said.
“Some were approximately 10 years younger than he was,” Trooper First Class J.C. Woods of the Hinton State Police Detachment told MetroNews in 2021. “Some were girlfriends that got away or one-night stands.”
Cook said she hopes this case heads to trial and that Keaton is ultimately convicted on all charges.
“Basically, that justice is served for all parties involved and that we make sure a jury hears the facts of the case and that a decision that is rendered will be up to the jury,” she said.
Keaton is currently being held in the Southern Regional Jail without bond.
Another status hearing is scheduled for April 12 in Summers County Circuit Court.