Former Kentucky Justice Secretary John Tilley indicted on rape charge
Two months after he was arrested and charged with first-degree rape, former Justice Cabinet Secretary John Tilley was indicted by a grand jury on the same charge.
John Tilley served in the state House for a decade as a Democrat and then as Justice secretary under former Republican Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin until he left office in Dec. 2019.
According to last week’s indictment, Tilley is alleged to have committed first-degree rape in Lexington on April 15 of this year when he “engaged in sexual intercourse with (the victim), who was incapable of consent because she was physically helpless.”
Tilley posted a $25,000 bond after he was arrested in August, and his arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 28 in Fayette Circuit Court.
After his arrest, Tilley’s attorneys, Steve Schroering and Chris Spedding, said their client is innocent of the charge.
“John Tilley maintains his innocence of the criminal charges and has cooperated with the investigation,” Schroering said. “He respects the judicial process and has no further comment at this time.”
As Justice secretary, Tilley oversaw the Kentucky State Police and the state departments of Corrections and Juvenile Justice. He also helped implement a new rape kit law on the handling of evidence in sexual assault investigations, intended to reduce a long backlog in the testing of such evidence by the Kentucky State Police forensic laboratory.
In a 2019 Kentucky State Police press release on the agency’s use of new rapid DNA tests for rape kits, Tilley stated: “In Kentucky, we believe in justice. Regardless of where you live, or work or play in the state, you should expect to be safe from crimes of sexual assault.”
Before serving as the cabinet secretary, Tilley was elected to five terms as a Democratic state legislator from Hopkinsville. His time in office included a stint as chairman of the legislature’s House Judiciary Committee.
Tilley, 53, was a lead sponsor of a landmark criminal justice reform bill passed in 2011 to reduce the number of Kentucky state inmates incarcerated for low-level drug convictions. He is listed as a senior fellow with the Council on Criminal Justice, a national criminal justice reform group.
In the 2022 session of the Kentucky General Assembly, Tilley served as a legislative lobbyist for Pace-O-Matic — a maker of slot-like “gray machines” — and Lifeskills Inc., a behavioral mental health provider that contracts with the state.
Reach reporter Joe Sonka at jsonka@courierjournal.com and follow him on Twitter at @joesonka.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Former Kentucky Justice Secretary John Tilley indicted on rape charge
