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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A state appeals court panel Friday upheld a former nursing assistant's conviction for sexually abusing a female patient who had suffered a stroke.
Jurors found Jose de Jesus Quiroz guilty in April 2022 of one felony count of sexual battery on an elder or dependent adult and one misdemeanor count of elder or dependent adult abuse involving the woman.
The victim -- then in her 70s -- was staying in 2018 at a rehabilitation facility where Quiroz worked, and she reported the two incidents to a female nursing assistant the following day, according to a 22-page ruling by a three-justice panel from California's 2nd District Court of Appeal.
Quiroz was suspended from work that day, according to the ruling.
The appellate court panel noted that it is "inconceivable the jurors would have believed they could find Quiroz guilty of sexual battery if they believed he was touching (the victim) for purposes of performing peri-care," the justices noted.
"Based on the evidence and the arguments presented to the jury, either Quiroz was discharging his duties and was guilty of no crime or he touched (the victim) for the purpose of sexual arousal, sexual gratification, or sexual abuse," the panel concluded.
He was sentenced in 2022 to two years in state prison and ordered to register as a lifetime sex offender, but remained free on bail pending his appeal, according to an August 2022 statement from the California Attorney General's Office, which prosecuted the case.