Challenging Indiana's Rape Law - Part 1: When a rapist goes free

By Megan Hickey
WNDU
July 03, 2015

http://www.wndu.com/home/headlines/Challenging-Indianas-Rape-Law---Part-1-When-a-rapist-goes-free-310825731.html

After a loophole in Indiana’s rape law let a confessed rapist walk free, one Indiana woman pushed for a change that will affect the lives of future sexual abuse victims for years to come.

The victim, Jenny Wendt Ewing, shared her difficult story with NewsCenter16 in the hopes of educating future Hoosier victims about the laws in their home state.

Ewing’s story goes back to April of 2005 when she was a nursing student at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis.

The then 26-year-old Ewing went on two dates with a man named Bart Bareither who was formerly her physiology lab professor.

The couple saw live music on the first date and toured a winery on the second.

But on their third encounter, Ewing said Bareither stopped by her house in the middle of the day and attacked her.

“It was very violent,” Ewing said. “He raped me. He sodomized me and he hurt me very badly. I fought. I screamed. I yelled and the minute it was over, I shut down.”

She said Bareither exited the apartment after the encounter, leaving Ewing bruised and bleeding.

“My whole body after that felt like I had literally been beaten for days,” she remembered.

But Ewing kept the rape a secret, too scared and ashamed to report the incident and relive the terrible memory in her past.

But nine years later, in January of 2014, the painful memories came flooding back with a single phone call.

Ewing, who had married and moved to Oregon, received a voicemail from an IUPUI detective asking for a return phone call.

According to the detective, Bareither had walked into the Marion Co. Sheriff’s Department the week before, asked to speak with an officer and confessed to raping Ewing on that April day nine years earlier.

NewsCenter16 spoke with an IUPUI detective who verified the confession and Bareither’s identity. Bareither was also contacted for this story, but did not respond to a request to comment.

“She asked me if I wanted to press charges,” said Ewing, who said that she did.

And for a few days Ewing believed her rapist would finally be brought to justice. That is, until the detective called back to say that the case was 4 years past the state’s statute of limitations for Class B rape and could not be prosecuted.

The case was closed and to this day, Bart Bareither is a free man.

Indiana’s statute of limitations

“This can't be right and this can't happen again, not in my state,” said Ewing, who would soon learn that Indiana had one of the shortest periods for victims to report rape and sexual assault in the country.

The statute of limitations on rape cases varies widely from state to state. In some places, victims can hold on to evidence for years -- even decades -- and bring charges when they're ready.

At least 20 states have no statute of limitation for reporting rape.

Indiana has no limit on Class A felonies, which include the use or threat of a weapon, serious bodily injury or the use of a drug or controlled substance.

In the last year, the system has changed to a numbered level system, but the equivalent of a Class B felony is defined by the victim being compelled or threatened by force, being unaware of the sexual conduct or consent is otherwise not given.

In Indiana, there's a 5-year limit on Class B felonies, with some exceptions, thanks to a law passed this spring.

Jenny’s Law

“It was not because I'm angry inside,” said Ewing. “But I wanted nothing like that to ever happen to anyone again.”

Ewing started an online petition to change Indiana’s statute and went public with her story in February of 2014.

Ewing’s family contacted Senator Michael Crider (R-Greenfield), and a year worth of testifying and public speaking later, Ewing got a call from Indiana Governor Mike Pence this April.

Gov. Pence had signed into law Senate Bill 94, dubbed "Jenny's Law" which allows prosecutors to extend the statute of limitations under certain conditions.

Those conditions include (1) when DNA evidence is discovered or identifies a suspect, (2) when new recordings - like video or photographs - are discovered or (3) when a confession is made.

From the time that prosecutors receive the new evidence or confession, the clock starts again and authorities have an additional 5 years to file charges.

Ewing originally pushed for no statute of limitations, an increasingly common move for many states over the last decade. That push was struck down early in the legislative process.

"Jenny's Law" won't help Ewing’s case, or any cases that took place before the new law was enacted this July.

But Ewing still considers the legislation a huge win for future victims, who will be encouraged to get examined and keep their sexual assault forensic evidence kits until they are ready to seek prosecution.

“My point is that Jenny's Law will allow people to get their rape kit done and then save it so when they're comfortable to come forward, they can,” Ewing said.

In future cases like Jenny's -- whether new evidence is discovered 9 years or 50 years later -- prosecutors in Indiana have legal recourse to file charges.