By WMBD TV

SPRINGFIELD – A Bloomington woman’s sexual orientation was irrelevant to allegations she sexually abused teenager and thus, should not have been brought forth at her trial.

As such, the 4th District Appellate Court in Springfield held Amanda R. Peterson, 44, who is serving a 14-year prison term for aggravated criminal sexual abuse, should get a new trial.

The 28-page order, handed down Thursday, means Peterson will get another chance to argue her case before a McLean County jury.

Petersen and her attorneys contended allowing jurors to hear that she told a Bloomington Police detective that she was bisexual was unduly prejudicial and could not “cured” by an instruction from the judge to avoid any bias or sympathy. The appellate panel agreed.

Judges John Turner, Kathryn Zenoff and Peter Cavanagh wrote in the order that while it was possible jurors weren’t influenced by that, the “evidence was not relevant for that purpose, and the court’s limiting instruction, which merely discussed bias in general, did not tell the jury it could not consider the evidence in that manner.”

“Given the closeness of the case, which amounted to a credibility contest, the jury’s improperly drawing such an inference would be prejudicial to defendant,” they wrote.

Peterson and her husband, Justin Nelson, 40, were arrested in April 2021, after they were accused of sexually abusing a then 14-year-old at a hotel in Bloomington roughly five months prior.

Nelson was sentenced to 10 years for criminal sexual assault.

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