Judicial Building

The Iowa Court of Appeals has ordered a new trial for a Webster County man who was convicted of sexual abuse.

A jury found Christopher Simpson guilty in 2011 of four counts of third-degree sexual abuse with on two boys who were fourteen and fifteen. He was sentenced to four life terms. Simpson appealed, saying his attorney should have objected when the expert witness for the prosecution case went too far in vouching for the credibility of the two teens’ testimony.

The Iowa Court of Appeals ruled the expert’s testimony did go beyond the line of what is allowed in sex abuse cases by saying two teens were incapable of lying about what happened. The Appeals Court ordered a new trial — saying Simpson’s attorney was ineffective for failing to challenge the witness testimony and the reference to the testimony in the closing arguments.

Here’s the full ruling: Simpson appeal PDF