A former Idaho lawmaker has been convicted of raping a teenager interned in a state building after a dramatic trial in which the victim left the witness stand.
A jury found 39-year-old Aaron von Ellinger guilty of raping a 19-year-old law trainee in his apartment after having dinner with her at a restaurant in Boise last March.
Von Ellinger, a Republican who resigned as Lewiston’s representative a month after he was indicted, was found not guilty of sexually infiltrating a foreign object. He claims that the meeting was by mutual consent.
The former MP is threatened with at least one year in prison and life behind bars in the sentencing of his July sentence.
His anonymous prosecutor took a position on the second day of the trial before abruptly changing his mind.
“He tried to put his toes between my legs and I closed my knees,” she said before standing up.
“I can’t do that,” she said before leaving the courtroom quickly.
After she did not return, her testimony was deleted from the record because the defense was unable to question her.
Von Ellinger faces life in prison in July. James Dawson / Boyce State Public Radio, Pool via AP
Prosecutors praised the young woman’s bravery at a post-trial press conference.
“It took an incredible amount of courage for the victim in this case, Jane Doe, to come forward,” said Hell County Attorney Ian Bennets.
“I want to acknowledge the courage it took to move forward.”
Von Ellinger remained calm when the verdict was read after seven hours of deliberation. He told the jury that he had asked the trainee to “hang out” after dinner at a luxury restaurant and said that they had finally had fun in his apartment.
“Things were going well and I asked (Doe) if she would like to move to the bedroom,” von Ellinger said. She said, “Of course.” We got up, held hands, and went into the bedroom.
Prosecutors allege that the then representative abused “social, political and physical power over the petty trainee”.
“He used this force to rape and forcibly infiltrate it,” Deputy Prosecutor Caitlin Farley told the jury during closing remarks.
A nurse testifies that the teenager got a “goose egg” on the back of her head when she hit him, trying to escape from von Ellinger, who she said pressed her and forced her to have oral sex while pointing her gun at a chest of drawers near the bed. mu.
Defense attorneys say the indictment is full of “red herrings” and say von Ellinger’s testimony is credible.
Another former employee and lobbyist told the Boise Ethics Committee that von Ellinger’s attempts to flirt made them “uncomfortable” last April.
The publicity of the legislative investigation into the Republican’s behavior led to the prosecutor being docked online by some of his political supporters. One of her harassers tried to attend the trial, but was held outside the courtroom.
With AP wires
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