BOISE, Idaho — The Idaho woman who was a legislative intern when she was raped by former Rep. Aaron von Ehlinger, a Lewiston Republican, has filed a lawsuit against him and former Rep. Priscilla Giddings.
Von Ehlinger, who was convicted last year, is in custody at the Idaho Correctional Institution in Orofino serving a 20-year sentence, with eight of those years fixed, meaning he is not eligible for parole until spending at least that much time in prison.
After a 12-person jury found von Ehlinger guilty last April, he tried and failed to acquit his rape conviction on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence. After he was sentenced, he appealed his conviction to the Idaho Supreme Court in September. That appeal is ongoing.
Giddings, a far-right former legislator from White Bird, lost her bid for lieutenant governor in the 2022 Republican primary to Scott Bedke. Giddings, first elected in 2016, was removed from a legislative committee in November 2021 and censured after she shared a Redoubt News article that identified the victim.
Identified as Jane Doe or the initials J.V. in court documents, the former intern has made 11 claims for relief against the two ex-legislators, including invasion of privacy, defamation, negative and intentional infliction of emotional distress, and assault and battery claims against von Ehlinger, among others. She was 19 at the time of the March 2021 sexual assault; von Ehlinger was 39.
In the 27-page lawsuit, the former intern claims that Giddings and von Ehlinger participated in behavior to punish and discourage her from participating in a House Ethics Committee hearing and otherwise cooperating with law enforcement during the investigation.
J.V. also alleges in the new lawsuit that the two legislators violated her equal protection rights as a legislative employee, calling their efforts to reveal her identity and refute the sexual assault claims a “campaign of harassment.”
This isn’t the first lawsuit J.V. has filed. It appears she settled a suit against the Idaho Legislature in November, after the lawsuit was dismissed and a $200,000 payment was made to someone with her initials, according to Idaho Reports.
“After reporting that von Ehlinger had sexually assaulted her, Defendants von Ehlinger and Giddings, acting individually and in concert, engaged in a campaign of harassment against Plaintiff, a female survivor of sexual assault, in violation of her equal protection rights,” according to the complaint.
J.V. said the harassment included releasing her identity, as well as personal information about her and her family to the public, and relaying defamatory information. J.V. said von Ehlinger shared false information reporting that she engaged in consensual behavior with him.
The complaint also indicates that Giddings — via her legislative email — sent out an update that included “defamatory and insulting comments” about J.V. and called the Ethics Committee process “reminiscent of so many national ‘Me too’ witchhunts.” Giddings also called J.V. a “tramp” and testified that she believed the former intern was under the influence of drugs.
The Idaho Statesman has reached out to Giddings for comment on the lawsuit.
J.V. also accuses von Ehlinger’s then-attorney David Leroy of sending multiple reporters an unredacted copy of von Ehlinger’s written response to the ethics panel on April 16, 2021 — which contained not only alleged defamatory statements, but “intimate details” about J.V. This was after being asked by J.V.’s attorney and an attorney representing the legislative committee to redact any personal information.
Two days later, Leroy told attorneys for J.V. that he wasn’t representing von Ehlinger anymore and said that he made a “mistake in releasing the unredacted report and (I) profoundly apologize to your client,” according to the complaint. He then emailed Giddings the next day and said that if she sent the far-right Redoubt News site the unredacted response, that he’d suggest she ask them to “delete it immediately,” the complaint states.
According to the complaint, J.V. endured severe emotional distress, loss of reputation, and loss of an internship position and its benefits, among other things.
J.V. attempted to testify in court during von Ehlinger’s trial, but after a few minutes she abruptly left the courtroom and the jury wasn’t allowed to consider her testimony. In the moments leading up to J.V.’s exit, she began to recount the rape.
She walked out of the courtroom, saying, “I can’t do this.”
With her lawsuit, the former intern is seeking relief, including compensatory damages, punitive damages, attorney fees, costs and interest.
