By DEREK HODGES

Staff Writer

SEVIERVILLE — The second day of the trial of Sevierville Dr. Rodney Carter proved grueling and graphic, as attorneys for both sides spent about eight and a half hours discussing incidents in which four of Carter’s patients claim he acted in a sexually inappropriate manner.

Testimony on Thursday included statements from three of those four young men and four local doctors who served as medical expert witnesses, with the prosecution resting at 5 p.m. Defense attorney Bryan Delius got in only one of the 30 witnesses said to be on his list before Judge Richard Vance wrapped up the proceedings for the day.

Assistant District Attorney General Steve Hawkins continued to push allegations that Carter performed unnecessary rectal examinations on the teenagers, while Delius worked to prove the checks were medically needed and the teens simply misunderstood what was happening. At times the 10 men and six women on the jury shook their heads or squirmed in their seats as the testimony proceeded and Vance at one point had to remind those in the audience to remain quiet after several reacted to one man’s statements.

First to take the stand was Dr. Robert Beam, a Seymour physician who began treating one of Carter’s patients after he stopped going to see Carter. He testified that the young man, who was the only victim to take the stand on Wednesday, told him about an incident he alleges happened with Carter that made him stop seeing the doctor.

(The Mountain Press does not identify the alleged victims of sexual crimes.)

“He was horrified. He was angry. He was quite agitated,” Beam said as he recounted the boy’s emotions as he told of the incident. “He wanted this to just go away. He didn’t want anyone to know this happened to him.”

The patient told Beam that Carter asked for a semen sample and encouraged the boy to stimulate his genitals. When he refused, the alleged victim told Beam that Carter reached around him and began to fondle him while performing what he said was a rectal exam. Beam said he was especially concerned because the young man said Carter didn’t wear a glove while he touched his genitals and demanded the incident be kept a secret.

“He told me Dr. Carter said, ‘Let’s just keep this between us,’” Beam testified. “I said immediately, ‘We have to call the police.’”

Delius pointed out Beam’s testimony was based entirely on what the boy told him of the incident in question, pointing out the young many might have simply misunderstood a necessary test.

“You don’t know what happened inside that room, do you?” Delius asked.

Delius pointed to medical journals and books that show doctors performing such checks without gloves. Further, those documents suggest there is debate among medical professionals that rectal exams may need to be done more often in young people, he said.

Dr, Eric Littleton, a Sevierville physician, also testified for the state, saying he had never given a person younger than 22 years old a prostate exam in his medical career.

The second of Carter’s alleged victims was next on the stand, telling the jury Carter instructed him to get monthly rectal exams after he began taking hormone therapy. The young man said Carter spent several minutes inside him each time and on at least one occasion the patient admitted he stimulated his own genitals while Carter did the exam, conceding Carter never directed him to do that.

Though the young man said he felt the situation was “not appropriate,” Delius pointed out he continued to see Dr. Carter. The patient continued to call for medical advice from Carter even a month after giving a statement to police about Carter’s behavior. Without telling the alleged victim, Carter’s wife, Linda Carter, who worked as office manager at LeConte Family Practice, recorded the conversation and Delius played it back in court.

“Does that sound like your voice?” Delius asked the young man at one point after stopping the recording.

“I can honestly say that does not sound like me. Some parts sound like me and some parts do not,” the alleged victim responded, though he later conceded the voice on the audio was his.

In the conversation, the young man asks about some of the medications he was on for bipolar disorder, a condition that one time forced him to be involuntarily committed to a local mental hospital after he told a nurse at LeConte he was having “homicidal and suicidal thoughts,” Delius said. He insisted the only reason he continued to endure the exams is Carter was his only source for those prescriptions and the hormone therapy.

Each of the three alleged victims who testified Thursday went to Carter at least once to be tested for sexually transmitted diseases, while one received a further check for hemorrhoids and another was taking medications that might lead to prostate problems. On each occasion, the young men said no one else was in the room when Carter performed the exams and he did not wear gloves when touching their genitals.

The second victim to take the stand became visibly emotional several times during Delius’ questioning, blowing his nose and dabbing at his eyes with tissues provided by a bailiff. He alleged Carter probed his rectum for up to 15 minutes when he complained of hemorrhoids before he demanded the doctor stop.

Delius pointed out inconsistencies both in the boy’s statements, as well as between his testimony and medical records. The witness at first denied having one procedure done, then later admitted it “sounds familiar.”

“How did you fail to tell us that?” Delius asked.

“I had never thought about it until you just now asked me,” the young man said, sobbing that he never told anyone about his experiences with Carter, even keeping them a secret from his own mother until she heard about them in his testimony.

Delius drew further sobs from the alleged victim when he brought up a $5 million civil suit the young man filed against Carter just a short time ago. The boy claimed he wasn’t aware the suit was filed.

“Young man, have you made this up?” Delius asked at one point.

“I really wish,” the boy answered.

Hawkins’ final three witnesses were the other doctors, each of whom testified that in a combined total of nearly 100 years in medicine they either never or only once had known of a prostate exam performed on someone under the age of 30. That Carter has at least four young men who say he did such a check on them seemed to indicate a problem to those physicians.

“I could not sleep that first night after reading these statements,” said Dr. Eric Littleton, who described himself as “horrified” by what the patients said Carter did. “I want the truth. If we do not protect the medical profession as physicians, then no one will.”

Each of the men also testified a rectal exam should take no more than half a minute and should always be performed with gloves on.

Following their statements, Delius called his only witness of the day, Diane Whaley, a nurse at LeConte. She testified she has seen Carter give rectal exams before and found nothing out of the ordinary. She also served as the first of what will likely be a number of character witnesses for Carter, offering accolades for his professionalism.

“Compassionate, caring, knowledgeable, thorough,” Whaley said after she was asked to describe Carter as a doctor. “I’ve seen him discuss things other than medical issues with patients. I’ve seen him cry with patients.”

The trial was set to begin again at 9 a.m. today.

dhodges@themountainpress.com