© 2025 Boise State Public Radio
NPR in Idaho
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Idaho Supreme Court upholds former lawmaker's rape conviction

Former Idaho state Rep. Aaron von Ehlinger looks around the room before the start of his sentencing at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise on Wednesday, August 31, 2022. He was convicted of raping a legislative intern in April.
Sarah A. Miller/smiller@idahostatesman.com
/
Idaho Statesman
Former Idaho state Rep. Aaron von Ehlinger looks around the room before the start of his sentencing at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise on Wednesday, August 31, 2022. He was convicted of raping a legislative intern in April.

The Idaho Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a former state legislator convicted of raping an intern in 2021.

Former state Rep. Aaron von Ehlinger (R-Lewiston) appealed his conviction from 2022, claiming a district court judge violated his constitutional right to confront his accuser in open court.

Von Ehlinger’s victim, who was 19 at the time he raped her, briefly testified during the trial, but eventually fled the courtroom saying, “I can’t do this.”

Instead, the prosecution largely relied on testimony from a forensic nurse who treated the victim known as J.V. She offered testimony recounting the victim said that von Ehlinger “forced his penis into [J.V.’s] mouth.”

Von Ehlinger’s defense attorney, Jon Cox, objected to parts of the nurse’s testimony at the time, but not on constitutional grounds. Those objections came a day later.

Cox also chose not to move for a mistrial after J.V. bolted from the stand. Prosecutors can retry a case when a mistrial is declared, but von Ehlinger would’ve been free had the jury found him not guilty.

“There is no doubt that J.V.’s departure weakened the State’s case against Von Ehlinger,” wrote Justice Gregory Moeller.

However, Moeller wrote Cox may have found it to be “a wise strategy to take advantage of that fact and see the trial through without the complaining witness’s testimony, while allowing for a potentially fundamental error to remain in the record to be appealed at another time, if necessary.”

Justices unanimously rejected the former lawmaker’s appeal, writing that there’s no evidence showing Cox was incompetent or that his decisions weren’t strategic.

“Whether such a tactic was wise or misguided is not for us to say in this appeal,” Moeller wrote.

Justices also wrote there was sufficient evidence presented at trial for a jury to reach a guilty verdict in the case.

Von Ehlinger is currently serving a minimum eight-year sentence, which could stretch as long as 20 years.

Former state lawmaker Aaron von Ehlinger was found guilty of raping a legislative intern in April 2022; but before that verdict, the State of Idaho had pardoned him on a list of previous convictions.

Copyright 2025 Boise State Public Radio

I cover politics and a bit of everything else for Boise State Public Radio. Outside of public meetings, you can find me fly fishing, making cool things out of leather or watching the Seattle Mariners' latest rebuilding season.

You make stories like this possible.

The biggest portion of Boise State Public Radio's funding comes from readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.

Your donation today helps make our local reporting free for our entire community.