SALEM, Ore. — An Oregon man retried on a sexual assault charge has been found guilty and was sentenced Monday to 25 years in prison, about 45 years after he was acquitted of raping his then-wife in a trial that garnered national attention.
In 2017, John Rideout was found guilty of first-degree rape and first-degree sodomy by a Marion County jury and a judge sentenced him to over 16 years in prison.
Rideout, 65, was given a new trial Thursday because the sodomy verdict had been non-unanimous, the Statesman Journal reported. In 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that such convictions were unconstitutional.
A jury last week deliberated less than an hour before unanimously finding Rideout guilty of sodomy. Judge Thomas Hart sentenced Rideout Monday to 25 years in prison. Rideout will not be eligible for early release or alternative programs.