LA GRANDE — Michael Jacob Altherr of La Grande faced 18 years in prison for sexual abuse but is now free on appeal and facing retrial.

The state accused Altherr of abusing a girl younger than 14 years old on multiple occasions from 2013-16. At the start of the abuse, the girl was 11 and living under the same roof as Altherr, court documents stated. She revealed the abuse in 2017. A Union County jury in July 2018 convicted Altherr of three counts each of third-degree sexual abuse and first-degree sexual abuse.

Circuit Judge Thomas Powers sentenced Altherr, now 35, to 18 years in prison.

This May, however, the Oregon Court of Appeals reversed the verdict and sent the case back to Union County. According to court documents, the reversal was due to a change in case law.

Powers did not allow expert testimony from two of the defendant’s witnesses, and Union County District Attorney Kelsie McDaniel said while Altherr was in the process of appealing his conviction, case law that allows for the expert testimony was changed, thus the higher court granted the appeal.

McDaniel also said the change also provided Altherr with conditional release from Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution, the state’s medium-security prison in Pendleton, and his mother posted his $5,000 bail shortly after.

Since getting out, Altherr has fired two attorneys while awaiting his retrial, McDaniel said, and Jacklyn Jenkins, special deputy district attorney for Umatilla County, is handling the prosecution.

Jenkins has extensive courtroom experience and has handled some of the most significant criminal cases in recent years in Umatilla County.