Question of the Week: Do you agree or disagree with the Jason Ebelsheiser verdict?

Ebelsheiser escorted from courthouse, Oskaloosa Iowa

Last time, we asked you if you believe our judges should be retained. A record number of people responded to this poll with 65 residents (57%)  voting No, and 50 residents (43%)  voted Yes. The question of the week poll is unscientific and does not reflect the opinions of Oskaloosa News.

Originally, we had planned to hold off on our question of the week until after the election and ask you about the election results. However, after seeing the number of comments on our facebook page about the Ebelsheiser Verdict, we felt that that should be our question of the week. It was over 1 year ago when we began hearing allegations of sexual abuse from local chiropractor Jason Ebelsheiser. This past month we began hearing more about this case as the trial came up. During the trial we heard various testimonies which all seemed to have the same general allegation: that during chiropractic care, Dr. Ebelsheiser put his hands down the pants of several female patients.

This past Friday, a Mahaska County Jury handed down a mixed verdict. The verdict convicted Dr. Ebelsheiser on one count of Sex Abuse in the 3rd degree, two counts of assault with intent to commit sex abuse, and one count of tampering of records. In addition, Ebelsheiser was found not guilty of two counts of Sex Abuse in the 3rd degree. Two counts were also declared a mistrial because the jury could not come up with a unanimous verdict. After we posted the verdict, we received a lot of comments. Those who supported the verdict seemed to generally say that he fully deserved that verdict because of his actions. Those who were against the verdict said that not enough information was revealed including the possibilities that some of these women continued to go back to receive chiropractic care after the accusations were made against Dr. Ebelsheiser.

Now its your turn to decide. Vote in our online poll. The poll will be open until next Sunday when we will close the poll and release the final vote count.