A Pulaski circuit court jury today acquitted Jose Turcios of a charge that he’d molested a teenage dental patient. It deliberated for a little more than two hours on the felony sexual assault charge.
The 14-year-old testified that he’d inappropriately touched her or made sexual advances on three occasions during an office visit in March 2015. Turcios denied this and said it would have been all but impossible to molest a patient unseen because of the number of people in the office.
Turcios’ lawyer, Bill James, suggested the young woman’s memory could have been affected by use of nitrous oxide when she visited for adjustment of braces and suggested that her charge grew from her dislike of the treatment.
A civil suit is pending over the allegation.