BOISE, Idaho (Washington Insider Magazine) – After a dramatic prosecution in which a young girl left the witness box during evidence, screaming “I can’t do this,” a former Idaho legislator was convicted this Friday of sexually assaulting a 19-year-old legislative intern.
Aaron von Ehlinger assaulted the intern in his house after the 2 had dined at a Boise restaurant in March 2021, the girl told a Statehouse official. The sex, according to Von Ehlinger, was consensual.
The Lewiston Republican was a state lawmaker at the time, although he eventually resigned.
Von Ehlinger, 39, was convicted of rape on Friday. He was deemed not guilty of using a foreign object to penetrate the woman.
While he had done throughout the trial, Von Ehlinger sat quietly as the verdict was announced.
In Idaho, a felony rape charge carries a mandatory minimum penalty of one year in jail. At the discretion of the judge, the maximum sentence may be life imprisonment. According to ABC NEWS, the sentencing date has been set on July 28.
The prosecution stayed stoic as they walked out of the court, but they paused short after they arrived at the lower floor to greet one another on the verdict.
After the conviction, Von Ehlinger’s lawyer, Jon Cox, could not be contacted for comment.
The Associated Press does not usually name persons who claim to have been sexually abused, so the female in this trial has been referred to as “Jane Doe” at her request.
Ada County Prosecutor Jan Bennetts congratulated the prosecutors, investigators, and jury who worked in the case during a news conference.
On the 2nd day of the hearing, Doe gave her testimony. She gave a hesitant account of the alleged assault’s beginnings before abruptly exiting the witness stand.
Deputy Prosecutor Katelyn Farley noted during the media briefing that the time Doe left the hearing was “heart-wrenching,” but that she and deputy prosecutor Whitney Welsh had prepared for prosecution expecting Doe might not be able to testify.
Von Ehlinger repeatedly talked directly to jurors during his testimony on Thursday, claiming he and Doe planned to go back to his residence to “hang out” after dining at an upscale Boise restaurant. He said that they then began to make out on the couch.
The jury decided to take a break for the evening after deliberating for 7 hours till approximately 8 p.m. Thursday. The judge brought the lawyers to his chambers at one point when the jury raised a question. The jury’s investigation was kept under wraps.
Doe was subjected to continuous harassment from several of von Ehlinger’s followers after the charges became public — partly as a result of the legislative ethics probe. In “doxxing” episodes, her identity, photo, and intimate facts about her life were frequently made public. One of the guys who tormented her on a regular basis was at the court for the hearing, but he was barred from the floor where the case was heard by police enforcement.
Farley told jurors during closing remarks that the lawsuit was about “power in the wrong hands” being exploited to cause “great devastation” to Doe. According to Farley, Von Ehlinger had physical, social, and political power over the tiny intern.
Farley pointed at von Ehlinger and said, “He used that power to rape her.” She cited the evidence of law enforcement authorities and a medical sexual abuse examiner who questioned Doe after the alleged incident as examples of Doe’s resistance.
Von Ehlinger’s counsel, on the other hand, told jurors that the prosecution’s evidence was full of “red herrings,” and that von Ehlinger was a reliable witness who readily shared his side of the tale.
Earlier this week, the authorities and the nurse who did the sexual abuse examination testified. They said Doe was held down and forced to perform oral sex by von Ehlinger, and that she was aware he had a firearm and had it on a nightstand by the bed at the moment of the incident. Doe had a “goose egg” on the back of her skull from hitting the wall or a headboard while struggling to move her head to the side from von Ehlinger’s hold, according to the nurse.
