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Mixed jury verdicts in groping case against physician

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — A Dona Ana County physician accused of groping patients has been convicted of criminal sexual contact but jurors acquitted him of a second count of that misdemeanor crime and deadlocked on a third. A jury returned its verdicts against 65-year-old Robert Woody of Chaparral after seven hours of deliberations on Friday, a day after the trial judge dismissed four felony kidnap counts for lack of evidence. The Las Cruces Sun-News reports that prosecutors intend to retry Woody on the deadlocked charge. Woody was charged in 2016 after four male patients accused him of misconduct and state regulators suspended his medical license. Defense attorney Jim Darnell said Woody touched the patients on their groins and buttocks as part of routine examinations, but the patients testified that Woody's actions went beyond touching.