LISBON Mistrial in doctor's sex-assault case

Two jurors failed to heed a judge's instructions not to read or view media accounts of the trial.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- A doctor's trial on a charge of illegal sexual conduct with a patient was scrapped after two jurors admitted reading a newspaper article about the proceedings.
The trial's derailment prompted angry outbursts from the accuser's father and mother, which led to both of them being fined.
Judge C. Ashley Pike of Columbiana County Common Pleas Court declared the mistrial Wednesday shortly after jurors had begun deliberating the fate of Dr. Anil Bajaj, 39, who now lives near Cleveland.
Bajaj, an internal medicine specialist who formerly practiced in St. Clair Township, is accused of sexual battery, a third-degree felony bearing a maximum five-year jail sentence. His trial began Tuesday.
Judge notified
The jury had the case about a half-hour when its foreman notified the judge that two jurors told the rest of the panel they had read a newspaper account of the trial earlier in the day.
The two jurors also told their fellow jurors that the article referred to a second charge Bajaj faces that accuses him of another sex offense involving a patient.
The judge declared a mistrial after determining that the two jurors' conduct could have prejudiced the entire panel against Bajaj.
Judge Pike said he was disappointed in the two jurors' actions, noting that they had been instructed not to read newspaper accounts of the proceedings.
The two jurors told the judge they are in the habit of reading the newspaper each morning and simply didn't realize they should have suspended the practice during the trial.
Accuser's parents
After the mistrial was declared, Bajaj began to exit the courtroom when the accuser's father, who was in the hall, charged him and had to be restrained by a deputy and an off-duty police officer.
While the accuser's father was being restrained, her mother entered the courtroom and made a remark to Bajaj, who was being guided from the chamber by court staff.
Bajaj eventually was escorted from the building by deputies.
Judge Pike later had the parents appear before him.
He scolded them for their conduct and reminded them that the defendant was innocent until proved guilty.
He then fined the father $250 and the mother $150.
Judge Pike set a hearing for 11 a.m. July 1 regarding a new trial for Bajaj.
Bajaj is accused of fondling a 21-year-old Wellsville woman during a July 27 examination.
He faces a July 9 trial on a second charge of gross sexual imposition, a fourth-degree felony bearing a maximum 18-month sentence.
He is accused of having a 36-year-old female patient lift her blouse and touching her inappropriately during an examination.