BY WALT SCHAEFER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
BATAVIA -- Withamsville chiropractor Nicholas Driever will return to Clermont County Common Pleas Court Aug. 31 to be retried on a rape charge.
Dr. Driever, 56, was accused by a 22-year-old Owensville woman of touching her genitals during a muscle reflex treatment. His first trial ended late Thursday with a jury of seven men and five women unable to reach a verdict.
Clermont County Common Pleas Court Judge William Walker Friday morning set bail for Dr. Driever at $10,000 cash, ordered he stay away from his accuser, not practice chiropractic or other hands-on manipulative procedures and forfeit his passport. As of Friday afternoon, he remained in the Clermont County Jail.
Prosecutor Greg Chapman said he asked the court for some restrictions and stipulations to the bail because Dr. Driever failed to return from a lunch recess Monday, the first day of his trial.
Dr. Driever, who had been free without bond, said instead of returning to court Monday, he ran an errand, took his wife to lunch, then waited for sheriff's deputies in Felicity when he learned they had a warrant out for him. He called the incident a misunderstanding. Dr. Driever's wife said she considers the case "making a spectacle of people's lives."
Dr. Driever, who has acted as his own attorney, has denied the allegations of the woman, who testified she was startled when he touched her genitals during muscle-reflex treatment. In his closing argument Thursday, Dr. Driever said treatments involving contact with the pubic area are routine in about a third of the 80 patients he sees per week, and that he did not rape his accuser.
The Enquirer is not publishing the alleged victim's name because of the nature of the charges.
