BOISE, Idaho — An Idaho legislative ethics committee will force a 19-year-old intern who says she was raped by a lawmaker to publicly testify about the encounter Wednesday.
The teen’s attorney, Annie Hightower with the Idaho Coalition Against Sexual & Domestic Violence, decried the move, saying the intern should decide whether to describe traumatic events in a public forum.
The investigation into Lewiston Republican Rep. Aaron von Ehlinger’s conduct began in March when the intern told a supervisor that the 38-year-old lawmaker raped her at his apartment after the two had dinner at a restaurant.
Von Ehlinger has denied the accusations and says the sexual encounter was consensual.
