HINTON, W.Va. — Arguments continue between Summers County prosecutors and defense attorneys over the release of digital evidence in the case of a man arrested three years ago for sexually assaulting and strangling 10 women.
Matthew Keaton, 33, of Pipestem, appeared for a virtual status hearing before Summers County Circuit Judge Robert Irons Friday morning.
Summers County Prosecuting Attorney Kristin Cook told the judge the case has been stalled over defense motions. Keaton’s attorney Troy Giatras said they want more evidence from State Police, but Cook said the state has met its burden for disclosing additional materials.
“Basically, what I’m gathering from the West Virginia State Police is that they are unwilling and unable to provide any sort of specialized reports that the defense is seeking,” Cook said.
The case has been complicated by the large amount of digital evidence lawyers are having to comb through including the hundreds of images on phones, iPads, computers and other electronic devices.
Cook said the defense wants the state to provide specific materials.
“My forensic laboratory is completely unwilling to violate their own policies and procedures to look for any particular evidence that the defendant is seeking that we don’t, in particular, know about,” she said.
Keaton was arrested in Oct. 2021 after the women reported being drugged and violently raped while being recorded. He 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.
Prosecutors said the victims have hundreds of images of Keaton’s alleged assaults.
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 if the defense wants to gather more data from State Police, they can do so on their own.
“We are more than willing to allow their expert to come down to the Hinton detachment, run the specialized reports that they’re seeking and looking for. That’s about the best that the state can come up with,” she said.
Giatras said it’s wrong for the state to withhold evidence just because there is a lot of it.
“The obligation rests solely on the state of West Virginia and not some alleged or ‘created’ issue of ‘go get your expert, spend money or time, go get your expert and go in and find something’,” Giatras told the judge.
Judge Irons on Friday ruled against the defense’s request to seek the additional data from State Police.
“I don’t think they have the obligation to run the reports because I could see that that could open a whole kettle of fish where after the fact there would be accusations that they didn’t do something appropriately,” the judge said.
The judge said another status hearing will be scheduled at a later date.
Keaton is currently being held in the Southern Regional Jail without bond.