An ex-girlfriend of Jesse Matthew wrote a letter to a Fairfax judge alleging that Matthew was subject to repeated childhood sexual abuse. The letter was made public Tuesday.
The letter was written to the judge of a case in which Matthew was found guilty of three felony counts for a 2005 attack and attempted sexual assault of a Fairfax County woman.
Matthew is also being tried in Albemarle County for the capital murder of late University student Hannah Graham and the first degree murder of Morgan Harrington, a Virginia Tech student who disappeared from a Metallica concert in Charlottesville in 2009.
The new letter was filed by public defender Dawn Butorac on behalf of Diana — whose last name was redacted and dated Matthew from 2003 to 2005 — as a part of a nine-page sentencing memorandum which requested the judge consider the defendant’s history when sentencing.
The letter is a confidential court document, a spokesperson for the Fairfax County Circuit Court said.
Matthew has entered an Alford plea, pleading guilty on the basis that the prosecution has enough evidence to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
In the case of an Alford plea, the jury is dismissed and the judge sentences based on sentencing criteria, including a pre-sentencing report which includes character references and history of the defendant.
In assessing the seriousness of the crime, the judge will look to the median number of months other judges have given for the same infractions, and then use history of the defendant and the financial, social, mental and physical impact on the victim to make a final sentencing decision.
Following a court appearance in Albemarle County on Wednesday, Gil Harrington, mother of Morgan Harrington, said the allegations in the letter, if true, do not excuse him.
“We as human beings have been given free will,” Harrington said. “Many people come from very difficult circumstances who have not gone out and abducted, raped or murdered."
Matthew is expected to be sentenced in the Fairfax case Friday, Oct. 2. His attorney declined to comment for this article.
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