Prosecutors pushing for Gage video to be allowed at trial
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IOWA CITY (AP) — Prosecutors are trying a new approach to convince the Iowa Supreme Court to allow a videotaped interview of Jetseta Gage to be used against the man charged with sexually abusing her.
In a theory outlined in legal briefs, prosecutors say there was no way for the 10-year-old girl to know that details of sexual abuse she offered months before her death would be used in court against James Bentley. The argument is their latest attempt to convince the Supreme Court to reverse a lower court decision banning the videotape from Bentley’s trial.
Bentley, 34, of Vinton is charged in Linn and Benton counties with second-degree sexual abuse. He is accused of molesting Gage repeatedly over three years at his apartment in Vinton and Cedar Rapids.
The case has generated intense media publicity since March 2005, when Gage was kidnapped, molested and murdered by Bentley’s older brother, Roger Bentley, now serving a life sentence in prison.
The first of James Bentley’s trials was scheduled to begin in July but was delayed after District Judge Denver Dillard declared the videotape inadmissible.
Dillard concluded that Gage’s statements were testimonial because the child protection worker who conducted the interview served a role as a police surrogate, in turn making the tape a valuable tool for prosecutors. Dillard ruled that showing the tape would violate Bentley’s right to confront his accuser.
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