JEFFERSON CITY - In a shocking display of hypocrisy, Jay Nixon’s claims that he is tough on sexual predators and sexual harassment ring disturbingly hollow after he hired and still employs a deputy who once blamed a female rape victim for being attacked and then ignored a jury by ruling against jail time for the convicted rapist.

Nixon hired and still employs Jeff Schaeperkoetter as an assistant attorney general knowing full well that as Franklin County Circuit Court Judge, Shaeperkoetter ignored a jury’s advice for jail time and instead sentenced Matthew Wasniak to probation for drugging and then sexually assaulting a woman in 2000.

With stunning callousness, Shaeperkoetter put some of the responsibility for the attack on the victim which was reflected in a story that appeared in The Riverfront Times on January 24, 2001. http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2001-01-24/news/getting-off-easy/full. Angry letters to the editor about Shaeperkoetter’s disregard for the victim appeared a week later on January 31, 2001.

“Sometimes people, without any specific reference to this case, sometimes people put themselves into positions from which harm can ensue,” Schaeperkoetter said, "and it did in this case." When Wasniak was sentenced, Shaeperkoetter made the link even stronger: "If anybody is listening," he announced, "this is why you don’t go to bars."

But as The Riverfront Times pointed out: “ Rumors aside, the most likely explanation of the sentence is that Schaeperkoetter, known for his pro-life, family-values morality and independent, even contrarian decisions, found the case muddled enough to leave room for that old possibility ’she was asking for it.’"

“It is shameful and hypocritical that Jay Nixon would hire and continue to employ someone who would not only blame a rape victim for an assault but then set a rapist free against the advice of a jury,” said Paul Sloca, communications director for the Missouri Republican Party. “If Nixon claims that he supports strong sexual predator laws and is quick to condemn allegations of sexual harassment, then Missouri taxpayers deserve to know why Jeff Shaeperkoetter is still on the payroll of the state’s chief law enforcement officer.”