Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Chuck Gillingham has
decided to take a second attempt at convicting a Gilroy doctor
accused of sexually assaulting five female patients
– one of them a Hollister resident – during pelvic exams.
SAN JOSE – Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Chuck Gillingham has decided to take a second attempt at convicting a Gilroy doctor accused of sexually assaulting five female patients – one of them a Hollister resident – during pelvic exams.
Dr. Raul Ixtlahuac, who practiced as a family physician for nearly 12 years at Kaiser Permanente’s Gilroy offices at 7120 Arroyo Circle, was acquitted last week on one of six counts of sexual assault, but a jury of eight men and four woman couldn’t reach an unanimous decision on the five other charges.
“After speaking with the victims I’ve made the decision to retry,” Gillingham said.
Gillingham also said that he had been contacted by another alleged sexual assault victims of Ixtlahuac during the doctor’s recent trial, although he is still trying to decide whether to charge Ixtlahuac with the woman’s claims.
“She could be another victim very similar to the penetration victims,” Gillingham said. “We’re just looking into it now.”
Ixtlahuac’s defense attorney Doron Weinberg could not be reached for comment, but following the verdict he said that he questions the claims of any alleged victim who came forward after reading about the doctor’s trial in the newspaper.
Ixtlahuac, 41, will face more than 10 years of prison time for four counts of alleged felony penetration with a foreign object and one count of alleged felony sexual battery for instances occurring between the fall of 2000 and spring of 2001.
Throughout the previous trial, four alleged victims of Ixtlahuac’s testified the doctor penetrated them with his penis during pelvic examinations, and two woman claimed he rubbed them in a sexual manner with his fingers. The doctor was found innocent of one of the latter counts. The jury voted 10-2 in favor of guilty on two counts of penetration and 9-3 in favor of guilty on the other three charges, Gillingham said.
During all the examinations the women were separated from the doctor by a large drape hanging over their abdomen which obstructed their view of him.
The case against the doctor will now go back to the Superior Court system in San Jose with a date of March 26 set for preliminary discussions, but the next trial could be months away, Gillingham said.
“My case is my case, so I won’t change much,” Gillingham said. “There will be a different jury – that will be the difference.”
