Mistrial Declared in Rape Case Involving Psychologist

A mistrial was declared Tuesday after a jury split 6 to 6 on whether a psychologist raped a woman who said she was lured to his remote Antelope Valley home with promises of treatment based on homeopathic medicine and Scripture readings.

The district attorney’s office must now decide if it will retry Dr. Charles A. Catanese on charges of forcible rape, sexual battery and attempted oral copulation. That decision is expected to be announced at a June 14 hearing.

The Van Nuys Superior Court jury deliberated just more than one week after hearing evidence for two weeks in the case based almost exclusively on the testimony of Catanese and the woman.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Foltz on Tuesday called it a “pure credibility case.” Half of the jurors believed that the woman was truthful and six “were not sufficiently convinced,” he said.

The woman, a 38-year-old employee of the Los Angeles County Probation Department, was referred to Catanese in late 1991 after seeking a stress-related disability because she was allegedly sexually harassed on the job.

Catanese, who specializes in evaluating worker compensation claims, said he struck up a friendship with the woman and saw her socially for several months.

But the woman testified that Catanese offered to treat her with an “unconventional therapy.” She said she was lured to his Lancaster home and attacked on the night of Jan. 2, 1992.

Catanese, 42, denied raping the woman. He testified that he did not even see her on that day and that a back condition made the attack impossible.

Defense attorney Russell Iungerich portrayed the woman as a professional litigant who went shopping after the alleged attack and then waited six months to notify authorities.