A psychological evaluation from 2017 can be used by the probation office in its presentence report for a woman convicted of sexually abusing a young male relative.
However, the probation office must specifically outline in the report any conclusions or recommendations made as a result of that evaluation, Judge Debra Scudiere ruled.
“I want them to be specific,” Scudiere said.
Monongalia County Prosecutor Perri DeChristopher requested the evaluation, from a case in 2017, be used by probation in the presentence investigation for 35-year-old Sarah Webber.
A jury in November found Webber guilty of domestic assault, a misdemeanor, and found her not guilty of first-degree sexual assault, but was unable to unanimously decide on all charges. She was convicted on sexual abuse charges following a second trial in December.
Stephanie Nethken, Webber’s attorney, objected to the unsealing of the report on the grounds that it had no relevance to the current case. The 2017 case was a domestic violence case in which Webber was the victim, Nethken said. She also argued the court did not have the ability to unseal the evaluation.
“What’s relevant to present to a jury in trial is completely different to what’s relevant in sentencing,” DeChristopher said.
DeChristopher argued the report was relevant because it happened about a year before the crimes Webber needs to be sentenced for occurred, and she couldn’t imagine more relevant information.
Nethken said she didn’t oppose probation using a psychological report but she was planning to have a new one conducted. Scudiere also ordered a copy of the evaluation be provided to the doctor who conducts the new report.
If she had known the evaluation would later be used against her client, Nethken never would have ordered that evaluation.
The old report, as well as the new report and presentence report as a whole, will be filed under seal and not available to the public.
Webber is currently scheduled to be sentenced in February.
