WALLACE — Earlier this week, a Shoshone County judge denied a motion to dismiss charges against a Silver Valley man accused of child sex crimes. 

Michael Flory, 34, pleaded not guilty to lewd conduct with a child younger than 16 during his arraignment in July. 

In August, Flory's attorneys filed a motion to dismiss under Idaho Code 19-815A, arguing the evidence presented at the preliminary hearing was insufficient to support the charge. 

According to court records, during Flory's preliminary hearing, Magistrate Judge Keisha Oxendine ruled the child victim was not competent to testify after questioning her in open court. Prosecutors then successfully argued she was unavailable as a witness, allowing statements she made to a forensic nurse and Shoshone County Sheriff's Office Detective Josey Stemrich to be admitted, and the case was bound over to district court over the defense's objection. 

Shoshone County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Britney Jacobs explained that Flory's motion asked the district court to find the magistrate erred by allowing the child's statements to be admitted through other witnesses. The motion sought to exclude that evidence from the preliminary hearing and dismiss the case, arguing the remaining evidence likely would not establish probable cause for the charge. 

District Judge Barbara Buchanan denied Flory's motion.  

The right to confront one's accuser is one of the protections guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. However, those protections come with caveats. 

"The District Court ultimately ruled that the right to confrontation is a trial right, not one fully afforded to the defendant at a preliminary hearing, therefore the magistrate court did not err when she allowed the testimony of the officer and the nurse," Jacobs said. 

Flory was arrested in April after Shoshone County sheriff's deputies responded to a report of a possible sexual assault at a residence in Mullan. 

According to investigators, the juvenile victim disclosed that Flory touched the child earlier that day after picking them up from school. Detectives reported the victim appeared frightened and said the contact caused pain.

Flory denied the allegations.

During the investigation, Flory consented to a DNA swab, and deputies seized his cellphone as potential evidence. 

"This case highlights the difficulties in cases where the child is too young to testify in court and the State is limited in its external evidence that can prove the case not only at a preliminary hearing, but beyond a reasonable doubt at trial," Jacobs said. "The analysis drastically changes when reviewing this same issue for trial testimony purposes, and the courts have largely determined that if the defendant is unable to confront their accuser through cross-examination on the stand or in a similar setting prior to trial, the statements cannot be brought into court through other means like the officer or the forensic interviewer." 

The case now moves to a jury trial, which is scheduled for Oct. 21. 

If convicted, Flory faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.