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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