Jury still out on Ebelsheiser case

Mahaska County Courthouse

Dr. Jason Ebelsheiser spent Tuesday answering questions about himself and his practice.

He is accused of 7 counts of 3rd degree sexual abuse and 1 count of tampering with evidence.

Wednesday with the case winding down, closing arguments were made from the State and Defense.

After the previous day, Ebelsheiser appeared calm as he has been nearly every day during his trial, with the exception of Tuesday when he was on the stand.

The jury was given 46 instructions by the Judge.

Prosecutor Susan Krisko started with the State’s closing arguments. “I’m going to remind that you’re here not to decide this on popularity. Not how many people were in the courtroom on either side, not weather or not you like the dress of one person, or the suit of another. It’s just based on the facts, and it is hard in a case like this when you know you will see all the people involved at a later time.”

“The fact of the matter in this case, it is not about chiropractic method. Everyone, including the defendant’s own expert, and the defendant said it, would not be treatment, would not be appropriate if I did that, what those women said.”

“if you police department do not want to keep going with this, I’ll be here if you ever need me.” Krisko stated of one of the accusers. She’s not pushing this. She’s not saying I need a police report cause I need to go find a lawyer, and I wanna try to get some money from this guy. That’s never happened by any of these women.”

“It’s not accidental if it’s being apologized for. And I just want to stress ladies and gentlemen, it’s not a defense to apologize for committing a crime.”

“He tried to make it okay in their mind, and it worked for the most part for most of them. And they all kinda told ya, I walked out of there thinking what the heck happened. I was stunned. I wasn’t sure what was going on.”

Defense Attorney Leon Spies has his opportunity to present Mr. Ebelsheiser’s argument. “Jason Ebelsheiser said it was possible I touched someone’s vagina. I did not do it intentionally. He said that then, he said that yesterday, and he believes it now that he did not violate the trust given to him of the women or the men for whom he cared.”

During a phone conversation with an accuser, Spies said that person responded, “What are you doing trying to get off on little girls, I’m gonna tell everyone I know about what you did.”

“There are lots of varieties of chiropractic treatment. Maybe that doesn’t wash one way or the other, none of these experts are any better than any other expert. The point is there are lots of different ways to treat patients, lots of different therapy’s that are used, both the traditional manipulation methods, soft tissue methods. What’s important is what Jason Ebelsheiser knew about chiropractic medicine and what skills he brought to bear in this case.”

Spies describes what an accuser did after her interview with Detective Troy Boston. “She was either encouraged to, or chose to get a copy of her chart from Jason’s clinic. She also testified at that point she was aware of other complaints. She either got that information from Detective Boston, or she got that information from a chiropractor that she had talked to. But we know at that point the word was out. The word was out.”

Spies also made the connection that many of the women were connected to a large employer in Oskaloosa, and suggested that women made reports upon rumors they had been hearing from family members employed there.

“We understand that. Don’t dispute that. Jason doesn’t dispute that. But the contact that occurred during the course of his examination and treatment of these patients is important to consider.”

As of my writing of this the jury was still out deliberating the fate of Jason Ebelsheiser after getting the case handed to them at 3 pm yesterday.