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June 22, 2005
James Bentley asks Supreme Court to bar Jetseta interview tape
Cedar Rapids, Ia. — A man accused of sexually abusing 10-year-old Jetseta Gage, whose death in March led to tougher child sex abuse laws, has appealed a ruling over a key piece of evidence to the Iowa Supreme Court.
James Bentley’s attorney, David Feister, on Monday filed an application for review of District Judge Thomas Koehler’s decision to allow a videotape interview with the Cedar Rapids girl in two sexual abuse cases. He claims it violates Bentley’s right to confront his accuser.
Prosecutors say Bentley molested the child during a two-year period.
Bentley, 33, of Vinton, faces second-degree sexual abuse charges in Linn and Benton counties.
The videotape was make last fall when Gage was questioned about the alleged abuse by an interviewer with the Child Protection Center at a Cedar Rapids hospital.
The child was kidnapped from her Cedar Rapids home on March 24. Her body was found the next morning in a rundown mobile home in rural Johnson County. Bentley’s older brother, Roger Bentley, 38, of Brandon, is charged in her death.
In the application for review, Feister said the videotape is the prosecution’s ‘‘chief, if not only, piece of evidence against the defendant. The admissibility of this videotape is, without question, central to whether or not the cases will even proceed to trial.’’
Bentley also is asking the higher court to stay proceedings in district court until a decision is made.
Bentley is scheduled to go on trial July 11 in Benton County and Aug. 15 in Linn County.
Posted by Nealus at June 22, 2005 10:37 PM
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