Kentucky man pardoned by Gov. Matt Bevin withdraws request to expunge sex crimes case

Micah Schoettle, the Northern Kentucky man whom then-Gov. Matt Bevin pardoned in 2019 on his conviction for raping and sodomizing a girl, has withdrawn his motion to erase his criminal record.

Schoettle, through attorney Dominick Romeo, submitted Monday in Kenton Circuit Court the notice to withdraw the motion for expungement, according to court records, which did not include further details on any reason for the legal move.

Romeo told The Courier Journal in an email Tuesday he has "no plans" to refile the motion.

Kenton Circuit Judge Kate Molloy granted the motion to withdraw the expungement request for Schoettle, who is now 43 years old and from Independence, Kentucky.

"It’s unfortunate this leaves open the possibility Mr. Schoettle can re-file the motion in the future because the victim doesn’t need to be further traumatized," Kenton Commonwealth's Attorney Rob Sanders, who opposed Schoettle's initial attempt to expunge his record, told The Courier Journal in an email Tuesday. "Nevertheless we will be here to fight any future requests for expungement."

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Schoettle was convicted in 2018 of raping and sodomizing a girl when she was 9 to 12 years old. The girl had said Schoettle raped her once a week for four years, including sometimes in the same room as her younger sister, whom she said also was sexually abused.

Schoettle was sentenced to 23 years in prison. But the following year, outgoing Gov. Matt Bevin pardoned Schoettle, with the Republican leader writing in his order that Schoettle was convicted based on testimony that was not supported by any physical evidence, and the case was “investigated and prosecuted in a sloppy manner."

"Both their hymens were intact," Bevin said of the two sisters during a radio interview in December 2019. "This is perhaps more specific than people would want, but trust me. If you have been repeatedly sexually violated as a small child by an adult, there are going to be repercussions of that physically and medically."

Bevin’s order for Schoettle was one of 650 pardons and commutations he issued as he was leaving office after losing the 2019 election to current Gov. Andy Beshear, with some of the pardoned defendants since facing new federal charges.

The Courier Journal reported after the pardon that Bevin did not talk to prosecutors, the teen who reported the abuse or her mother before granting the pardon.

Romeo wrote in an expungement application filed in December that there was "zero physical evidence."

The attorney also argued a judge allowed the prosecution to introduce “junk science” — expert testimony explaining why children sometimes delay reporting sex abuse. Romeo cited three cases in which the Kentucky Supreme Court disallowed evidence of Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome. 

Sanders, in response, said testimony about the accommodation syndrome was proper because it was introduced to explain why children often delay reporting, not to prove the sexual assault had occurred 

Sanders noted Schoettle’s own expert agreed that delayed disclosure was accepted in the psychological community. 

Regarding the lack of physical evidence, Sanders previously said that is common in a sexual assault. A physician who testified for the prosecution said about 50% of women she examined that were sexually active still had a hymen intact.

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"Child molesting rarely happens in front of witnesses or leaves physical evidence," Sanders said after the December 2019 pardon. "If we didn’t pursue those cases, 99% of child rapists would never be prosecuted."

Schoettle’s counsel at trial contended the girl concocted her claims to get out of chores and because her cell phone had been taken away. 

But Sanders said if not for Schoettle's "millionaire mother donating thousands of dollars to organizations supporting the governor’s re-election campaign, this defendant’s case would never have been considered for a pardon."

“Likewise, had the governor not been so arrogant and insulting to the citizens of the commonwealth, including to people who had supported his initial election, he would have won reelection,” Sanders said.

Andrew Wolfson contributed to this story.

Reach Billy Kobin at bkobin@courierjournal.com.