Chiropractor convicted on one count
Friday, Sept. 18, 1998 | 10:03 a.m.
"As Jesus said, 'They know not what they do,"' Hansen said after the verdict was returned. He faces sentencing in November and is free on recognizance until then.
Hansen lost his license for promoting a cancer cure that the Nevada Chiropractic Board didn't accept.
He offered to cure patients of cancer with a whirlpool bath he had set up in a trailer at a recreational vehicle park.
Jurors disagreed on a charge from Thelma Nichols, whose father died of cancer. He was not treated by Hansen, but his daughter went to the Nevada attorney general, triggering the investigation.
The panel convicted Hansen for his offer to treat Bruce Kennedy, who posed as a cancer patient and worked as an informant for the Elko County sheriff's office when the investigation began last fall.
Hansen offered no defense in the trial that opened on Monday, although he disrupted its opening when he draped an American flag around his shoulders.
Elko District Judge Jack Ames ordered Hansen handcuffed and threatened to put duct tape across his mouth if he didn't settle down.
Hansen's appointed attorney, Matt Stermitz, said his client was targeted by "dysfunctional busybodies who wanted to get Hansen in trouble."
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