DES MOINES – About 50 relatives and supporters of a slain Cedar Rapids girl rallied outside the state’s Supreme Court on Monday, calling for changes in state law to allow child victims to testify by videotape.

The Iowa Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments Wednesday on whether a videotaped interview that Jetseta Gage gave to authorities can be used as evidence in the trial of James Bentley.

Bentley, 35, faces state charges that he sexually abused Gage over a three-year period. Gage details the abuse in the videotape, which Bentley has sought to suppress, saying he has the right to confront his accuser in court.

Gage, 10, was kidnapped and killed in March 2005 by Bentley’s older brother, Roger, who is serving a life sentence for the slaying.

The demonstrators stood silently along the street in front of the Supreme Court, holding signs saying, “Let Jetseta’s voice be heard.”

The girl’s uncle, Larry Slight, said the demonstration is unlikely to influence the court but can remind the state’s elected officials that Gage’s supporters are trying to protect other children from abuse.

“We would like to get things changed so that a child who has to go through this could do a videotape,” he said.

That videotape would spare the young victim the additional trauma of being forced to confront an abuser in open court, he said.

Lower court judges have split on whether the videotape should be admitted as evidence and the high court was asked to intervene.

“I would like to see the law changed to protect children,” said Jenny Slight, Gage’s great aunt.

Gage’s death has come to symbolize the state’s fight to toughen sex abuse laws. Her case prompted the Legislature to toughen the state’s child sexual abuse laws, and has put the issue on the state’s political agenda for the last three years.

Mandi Smoldt, a cousin of Gage, said her death should have meaning.

“We’re here to protect the children,” she said.

Bentley is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court on six federal child pornography and sexual exploitation charges. He was convicted in March of taking sexual explicit photos of Gage and another young girl.