Rx for Justice: Take a Grain of Salt and Call Him in the Morning

On television, Dr. Michael Resnick is the soul of compassion and earnest enlightenment.

For seven years he’s done “Staying Healthy” spots on KGTV-Channel 10. He also does one-minute medical updates for 100 stations around the country and is a regular on the ABC morning show “Home.”

A local critic wrote that Resnick’s “reassuring, competent style and boyish good looks make him a TV natural.”

The political grapevine says that Resnick, 42, a gynecologist with a thriving private practice in San Diego, is dreaming of a run for Congress.

But Resnick was anything but reassuring or politic in a recent rape trial.

In fact, Resnick antagonized both the prosecutor and defense attorney, had a tense confrontation with a marshal, and got a stern lecture from the judge about his lack of civic responsibility.

“I have never seen anything like Dr. Resnick,” fumed Superior Court Judge J. Perry Langford.

The case involved an 18-year-old retarded woman who says she was raped by her teacher at Mission Beach School.

As a doctor for the family, Resnick examined the woman the day after the alleged incident. He found no sign of rape.

During the pretrial hearing, Resnick did not comply with a subpoena. Christian Tuffli, the teacher, was bound over on eight felonies.

Before the start of Tuffli’s trial, Deputy Dist. Atty. Laura Rogers telephoned Resnick.

Rogers said Resnick berated her, expressed disdain for all lawyers, and said he was busy with his television career in San Diego, Los Angeles and New York.

“He told me the victim was so stupid she wouldn’t be able to communicate,” Rogers said.

Some days later, defense attorney Robert Boyce telephoned Resnick. He, too, says Resnick berated him and said angrily he would not cooperate.

“He told me that he would make sure my client was convicted,” Boyce said.

Boyce said that Resnick, in a second conversation, told him, “I’m going to rip your face off.”

Like Rogers, Boyce decided not to have Resnick testify “because I couldn’t risk having him try to torpedo the case.”

Judge Langford sent a marshal to Harbor View Medical Center to tell Resnick to appear in court or face arrest.

Resnick told Langford that the marshal made a menacing gesture by putting his hand on his gun. The marshal denied this.

Langford said he was particularly annoyed by Boyce’s allegation that Resnick threatened to hurt his case--an allegation that Resnick did not deny.

“The suggestion that Dr. Resnick, to avoid testifying, would put his thumb on the scales of justice offended me,” Langford said.

Without the jury present, the judge lectured Resnick on the duty of all citizens--even those of exalted status like doctors--to obey the law and testify truthfully.

On Tuesday, a jury acquitted Tuffli on three counts and deadlocked on five others. A retrial date will be set next week.

Rogers and Boyce agree that Resnick’s lack of testimony did not affect the outcome of the trial. After Resnick, the woman was examined by a Children’s Hospital doctor, who also found no sign of rape.

Resnick is not eager to discuss his conduct.

“I don’t have any comment about that,” he said. “I have to see some patients.”

He then hung up on me.

Laugh a Little, Cry a Little

Other voices.

The play’s the thing.

The Old Globe Theatre isn’t taking chances that the City Council will renege on restoring funding for the arts.

After each performance, an actor tells audiences that funding is still imperiled. A list of council members’ office phone numbers is provided.

A double bill: Sleepy LaBeef and the Forbidden Pigs.

A FARM-AID concert? No, Friday night at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach.

As soon as they retired to deliberate, jurors in the Silberman trial started laughing. Go figure.