Former Idaho state lawmaker sentenced to 20 years in prison for raping intern

Former Idaho state Representative Aaron von Ehlinger has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after he was found guilty of raping his 19-year-old legislative intern.

During Wednesday’s sentencing hearing, Judge Michael Reardon said that von Ehlinger must spend at least eight years behind bars before he’s eligible for parole, according to the Associated Press.

The former Republican lawmaker was convicted of felony rape in April. He resigned from the state House about a year earlier following a recommendation from the ethics committee that he be barred from the chamber.

According to Judge Reardon, von Ehlinger didn’t show remorse or empathy, adding that he wasn’t ready for treatment for sex offenders.

The judge said that the prison time would at least avert the possibility that von Ehlinger would commit another offence while he’s jailed.

“You have a pattern of explaining, excusing, deflecting and blaming others for the circumstances you find yourself in,” the judge said, according to the AP.

The investigation started in March of last year after the intern told a supervisor in the statehouse that the then-lawmaker had raped her at his apartment after they had had dinner at a restaurant in the Idaho capital of Boise.

Von Ehlinger has consistently claimed that it was consensual.

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