Who is John Tilley? Kentucky ex-justice secy arrested for raping woman who was too drunk to give consent
LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY: A former secretary for Justice and Public Safety of Kentucky was arrested in Lexington and charged with first degree rape on Monday, August 8. Former state Rep. John Tilley reportedly oversaw Kentucky's state prison system under former Governor Matt Bevin. He has been accused of having sex with a woman was too drunk to be able give consent at a Lexington hotel.
The alleged incident reportedly took place on April 15, but charges were filed only on Monday. Lexington police said Tilley turned himself in and is being held at the Lexington-Fayette County jail at present. "Tilley maintains his innocence of any criminal wrongdoing and has fully cooperated in the investigation," Tilley's attorneys Christopher Spedding and Steve Schroering said in a statement, according to the Daily Mail. "He respects the court process and will have no further comment at this time."
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Who is John Tilley?
John Tilley a Democratic state representative who was appointed by former Republican Gov. Matt Bevin to serve as a cabinet member over the state's justice department. He served as Justice and Public Safety Cabinet secretary from December 2015 through 2019. Tilley oversaw Kentucky State Police, the Department of Corrections and other agencies, worked to decrease the backlog of untested rape kits when he served at the public safety cabinet.
According to the website of Council on Criminal Justice, "An attorney, five-term state legislator, and former Kentucky Justice Cabinet Secretary, Tilley has spent nearly three decades working for a more fair, just, and effective criminal justice system. As a member of Kentucky's House of Representatives, Tilley spent seven years as chairman of the Judiciary Committee, earning a reputation for building coalitions and consensus and crafting transformative legislation. In his role as head of the state's justice cabinet, Tilley championed reform efforts across the criminal justice landscape while overseeing adult corrections, juvenile justice, state police, drug policy, public defense, and other departments.
In a 2017 press release, Tilley had said, "The survivors of sexual assault should never have to endure the uncertainty of another backlog." In a 2019 Kentucky State Police press release on the agency's use of new rapid DNA tests for rape kits, he had said, "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." As secretary, Tilley reportedly tried to educe overcrowding in the state's prisons and jails. "The answer is not to build more prison space, the answer is to lower our prison population," he had said at the time.