During a neurologist’s sex crimes trial, New York City jury was asked Tuesday to consider whether he is a victim of accusers with false stories or he used his pain-management practice to sexually prey on his six patients.
Assistant District Attorney Shannon Lucey said in closing arguments at the trial that the case against Dr. Ricardo Cruciani relied on “survivor stories of six very different women," reported 4 New York. Lucey noted that the trial is about a "doctor who raped, sodomized, hugged and manipulated his patients."
According to the Associated Press, the prosecutor argued the evidence showed that the disgraced doctor groomed patients by overprescribing pain killers. They were prescribed sometimes to treat serious injuries from car wrecks and other accidents. Lucey said that Cruciani’s accusers should be credited for having the courage to come forward and talk about the abuse.
Those who have accused the 68-year-old doctor testified that the sexual abuse often occurred behind closed doors during appointments in 2013 at a Manhattan medical center. There he would expose himself and demand sex. One accuser said that he didn’t finish writing "my prescriptions until I did something for him." She described the behavior “just pure evil,” and said that this "defendant is nothing but a drug dealer who used his prescription pad as a weapon.”
As for Cruciani, he has pleaded not guilty to multiple charges, including predatory sexual assault, rape and sexual abuse.
Also, defense attorney Fred Sosinsky countered the witnesses by saying that they were not reliable. He told jurors that they should have every "reason to doubt these accusations," and that the witnesses “were willing to lie” and “dispute the indisputable.” Sosinsky said that hospital records undercut the witness timelines for the assaults. They supported defense claims that they were getting proper care. He also cited loving notes that some witnesses had written to their alleged assailant. One note read in part, “I hope you have a nice holiday. … You’ve truly been the best doctor I’ve ever had.”
The jury members, who worked for about an hour late Tuesday, did not reach a verdict. The jury was to resume deliberations the following morning.
The doctor is also facing federal charges in an indictment accusing him of abusing many of his patients over 15 years at his offices in Philadelphia, Hopewell, New Jersey and New York City. The state trial and federal charges came after years of public complaints by Cruciani’s accusers that authorities in some places weren’t taking his crimes seriously. It was particularly in Philadelphia where he pleaded guilty to relatively minor misdemeanor groping counts that involved seven of his patients.
