Former Republican Idaho state legislator Aaron von Ehlinger was convicted of raping an intern in his office in March 2021, the Associated Press reports, ending a case that caused Republican cultists to harass and threaten the victim of the crime.

Von Ehlinger was convicted of rape but acquitted of of sexual penetration with a foreign object.  He was handcuffed and led from the courtroom after the verdict was announced.  Sentencing will be July 28; in Idaho, sentences for rape range from one year to life in prison.

In an incident that split the Idaho Republican Party over support of von Ehlinger, the legislator took the intern out to dinner, supposedly to talk about the office’s political agenda.  While at dinner, he tried to insert his fingers into her.  When she abruptly demanded to end the dinner and be taken home, von Ehlinger instead took her to an apartment he kept in Boise, where he again attempted to assault her. 

The case took a vile turn when another Republican legislator, Priscilla Giddings, publicized the name of the victim in media appearance and in social media in an attempt to defame her and discredit her accusation against von Ehlinger.  Giddings was disciplined by the Idaho House but she claimed “woke” liberals were trying to silence her.

During the trial, the victim, who was identified as Jane Doe throughout the proceedings, attempted to take the stand to relate her testimony, but broke down and walked out of the courtroom in tears.  Sheriff’s deputies had to be called to the courtroom to keep people who had threatened and doxxed the victim from sitting in her line of sight during her testimony, but one man who had been known to harass the victim took a seat in the upper gallery, likely shaking her.