Lewd conduct trial ends in a deadlock

SANDPOINT — A mistrial was declared Wednesday in the case of a former Sagle man who fled to Hawaii nearly four years ago to avoid prosecution on a charge of lewd and lascivious conduct with a minor.

A Bonner County jury composed of evenly mixed men and women were unable to reach a unanimous verdict in the case against Stephen Robert Reiling. Jurors advised 1st District Judge Barbara Buchanan that they were hopelessly deadlocked after about two hours of deliberation, court records indicate.

Bonner County Louis Marshall said he will retry the case, setting the stage for a three-day jury trial in August.

Reiling, 57, is accused of fondling the genitals of a Bonner County girl in 2003, when she was between the ages of 8-9 years old.

The allegations, however, did not surface until 2011, court records show.

Reiling failed to appear at his trial in 2012, but turned up in Hawaii earlier this year when he was arrested for sexual assault.

The alleged victim, now 21, testified that she was friends with Reiling’s daughter and was sleeping over at their house when Reiling placed his hand down her pants for about 10 minutes. Reiling said nothing during the incident and she pretended to be asleep because she was scared, the woman testified.

The woman testified that she kept quiet about what had happened, but broke her silence upon learning that her younger sister was visiting the Reiling home.

“I didn’t want anything to happen to her,” she testified.

Jurors heard a portion of an audio recording of Reiling being questioned by sheriff’s Det. Tony Riffel in which Reiling repeatedly denied touching the girl inappropriately, but later made apologetic remarks and admitted wrongdoing. He also wrote the girl a note apologizing for hurting her.

“I am deeply ashamed of my inappropriate behavior and anything I did to make you uncomfortable,” Reiling said in the note, which was read aloud in court.

However, Reiling took the stand to clarify what he was apologizing for.

Reiling told jurors that he had a platonic spiritual connection to the girl and was apologizing for maintaining that connection.

“There was nothing sexual about it. It was a very high vibration, a spiritual vibration,” said Reiling, who adopted New Age beliefs as an adult.

Reiling said his incriminating remarks at the end of the interview were products of his Catholic upbringing and advice his father had given him. Reiling said his father told him the best way to bring an end to an argument is to agree with the other person.

Reiling admitted he fled Idaho because the allegations against him made him a pariah and subjected his family to harassment and death threats.

“I went to start my life over,” said Reling.

“Isn’t it true that you fled because of your own consciousness of guilt?” Marshall asked.

“Absolutely not,” answered Reiling, who painted himself as the victim in the case.

Marshall said during his closing remarks that Reiling is engaging in magical thinking to convince himself the incident did not happen and emphasized that there was no plausible motive for the girl to fabricate the allegation.

Reiling’s daughter and her mother testified they heard no commotion during the alleged incident, but Marshall said that’s hardly unusual in child sex abuse cases.

“This is something that’s done in silence and secrecy,” Marshall said.

Reiling’s co-counsel, Gary Amendola, argued that Riffel was more interested in getting an admission than discovering the truth of the matter and his client ultimately said things Riffel wanted to hear to bring an end to a lengthy interrogation. Amendola also argued that the testimony fell short of proving the state’s case beyond a reasonable doubt.

“You couldn’t possibly decide beyond a reasonable doubt if you can’t really decide if this even happened or not based on what you’ve heard,” Amendola said.