Trial date set for expelled student facing more rape charges

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – A trial date has been set for new sexual assault charges against a man who was allowed to remain enrolled at Marshall University despite a rape accusation.

A West Virginia court clerk on Tuesday said Joseph Chase Hardin will face trial starting Sept. 3 on charges that he raped two women last year.

The 22-year-old man has maintained his innocence.

Hardin was convicted of battery in the earlier case, where a former Marshall student said he raped her in a dorm room in 2016. He was sentenced to a year in jail last week for violating probation in that case.

The university expelled Hardin last month and has said it followed state law and federal regulations, including issuing a no-contact order in the earlier case.