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A former Idaho lawmaker was sentenced to 20 years in prison after he was convicted of raping a 19-year-old legislative intern.
Fourth District Judge Michael Reardon said during the sentencing hearing that former Idaho state Rep. Aaron von Ehlinger must serve at least eight years of his sentence before he will be eligible for parole.
“Von Ehlinger was convicted of felony rape in April, roughly a year after he resigned from his seat in the House of Representatives after an ethics committee recommended that he be banned from the statehouse. The judge said von Ehlinger failed to show empathy or remorse, and that it was clear he was not ready for sex offender treatment. The sentence would at least deter von Ehlinger from committing another crime while he is incarcerated, Reardon said,” NBC News reported.
“You have a pattern of explaining, excusing, deflecting, and blaming others for the circumstances you find yourself in,” Reardon said.
Aaron von Ehlinger: Ex-Idaho state lawmaker sentenced to 20 years in prison for raping a legislative intern
The cross he is wearing in the picture is extra creepy for obvious reasons. https://t.co/tAkerN5D5i
— Spiro Agnew’s Ghost (@SpiroAgnewGhost) September 2, 2022
The investigation began in March 2021 after the intern reported to a supervisor at the Idaho state House that von Ehlinger assaulted her at his apartment.
The woman said the attack occurred at his apartment after the two had dinner at a Boise restaurant.
At the sentencing hearing, the prosecutor played a recording of the woman talking about how the assault was traumatizing and changed her life.
The woman, who the media is referring to as “Jane Doe” to offer her a layer of protection, said she was taking a stand “for the future of any Jane and John Doe here in Idaho.”
“I am here now. I am here scared, I am here frightened, I am so petrified, but I will not be intimidated into silence so that another rapist can slip through the cracks of this justice system,” Doe said in the recording. “I hope he rots in pieces behind those cold metal bars.”
For his part, Von Ehlinger told the judge before he was sentenced that he served in the military and was trained to protect people.
“We were trained to fight against evil and fight for those who cannot fight for themselves, especially women. That is something I believe then and something I absolutely believe now,” von Ehlinger said. “The only thing between Afghani women and the Middle Ages was the American soldier, and I am very proud that we were able to do that.”
Judge Reardon didn’t buy von Ehlinger’s arguments and accused him of lacking empathy for the victim while trying to portray himself as a hero.
“You see yourself as a victim and you see yourself as a hero, and frankly I don’t see you as either one of those things,” the judge said. “You created your own circumstances that put you here today.”
In addition to his prison sentence, the judge also ordered von Ehlinger to register as a sex offender and placed him under a no-contact order lasting through 2055.
