Indian-American Doctor Convicted For Raping Patient Won't Serve Jail Time

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Indian-American Doctor Convicted For Raping Patient Won't Serve Jail Time

Jurors convicted Shafeeq Sheikh of second-degree sexual assault after a trial that ended this past week.

HOUSTON: An Indian-American doctor from Texas, who was convicted of raping a sedated patient in a hospital, will not serve prison time and, instead, will spend 10 years of probation.

Jurors convicted Shafeeq Sheikh, 46, a former physician at the Baylor College of Medicine, of second-degree sexual assault after a trial that ended this past week.

The crime is punishable by up 20 years in prison, but the Texas jury sentenced Sheikh to 10 years of probation on Friday.

Sheikh will have to register as a sex offender. Unlike most states and the federal government, Texas grants juries the power to set criminal punishments.

The punishment has surprised defense attorneys, disappointed law enforcement and raised concerns from a victims advocacy group, according to media reports.

The jurors had recommended the sentencing, to which visiting Senior District Judge Terry L Flenniken was required to follow by law, according to local media report.

Sheikh was working in night shift at Houston's Ben Taub Hospital in 2013 when a woman was admitted for shortness of breath and wheezing. She was in the hospital overnight and sedated when Sheikh came to her room several times during the night and sexually assaulted her.

The woman said she attempted to get help from a nurse, but the call button would not work.

DNA evidence collected from a rape kit matched the DNA sample of the guilty doctor's cheek swab. But it took two years for charges to be filed against Sheikh.