A change of venue request in the retrial of a Minnesota man facing sex abuse charges in Marion County has been placed on hold at the request of the defendant’s counsel.

Court documents state counsel for 64-year-old Patrick Michael Dudley has filed a Notice of Holding Motion in Abeyance with the court and that they wouldn’t argue the motion at a hearing Thursday due to a lack of sufficient evidence.
Dudley was found guilty by a jury on two counts of 2nd degree sexual abuse in January 2012, but an opinion by the Iowa Supreme Court in December ruled he would have a new trial because some of the expert testimony admitted by the district court amounted to impermissible vouching of the victim’s credibility.
Authorities say Dudley committed the crime while traveling with the victim in Knoxville in August 2010. The victim, who is also from Minnesota, was under the age of 12 at the time of the incident. Dudley was sentenced to 25 years in prison.