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April 6, 2006

Doctor's sex-assault trial resumes today

WARWICK -- The trial of a Kent Hospital anesthesiologist accused of sexually assaulting a patient during surgery will resume this morning.

Superior Court Judge Melanie Wilk Thunberg dismissed the jury yesterday, halting the proceedings to determine whether a witness had tainted the jury.

Russel J. Aubin, 40, of Jamestown, is accused of fondling a patient during a knee surgery at Kent Hospital in December 2004. He has argued that anesthesia could have caused her to hallucinate the incident.

Thunberg spent most of yesterday questioning each juror in her chambers after a former anesthesiologist, Kathleen C. Hittner, testified that she didn't think the victim had hallucinated -- speculation on her part that nearly caused a mistrial.

The trial resumes at 10:30 this morning at Kent County Superior Court.

Posted by Steve Peoples  at 8:04 AM | Permalink

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