Parents still seek justice after indecency charge against doctor dropped

There's fallout after a bizarre mistrial. A local doctor's name has been cleared after a case that the Harris County District Attorney's Office said may have been sabotaged by the duty-bound prosecutors to seek justice.

Prosecutors formally moved to dismiss an indecency with a child charge against pediatrician, Dr. Robert Yetman.

The DA's Office said they chose not to appeal for a new trial because they're supposed to seek justice, not wins.

The alleged victim's family tells ABC13 the dismissal of that charge is not justice for their little boy.

Dr. Robert Yetman was accused of inappropriately touching a 7-year-old boy's genitals while the boy was being treated for an asthma attack at Children's Memorial Hermann. That allegedly happened in 2014.

"He said the doctor came in and was touching his private parts and asking how did he like it," said the alleged victim's mother.

His family, who asked not to be identified, reported it, police investigated, and the charge was filed.

Dr. Yetman denied any wrongdoing.

Yetman's 2015 trial ended with a mistrial because of a prosecutor's inappropriate comments during closing arguments.

"The prosecutor tried to suggest there was a bias in the defendant, in his lawyer, and in the way the court was ruling against her based on race," said Harris County First Assistant District Attorney Tom Berg.

That prosecutor no longer works at the DA's Office. They opted not to appeal for a retrial and formally asked a judge to dismiss the charge Friday saying in a news release: "A two-week jury trial established that the doctor was never alone with the young patient and that he had been accompanied by other medical personnel during his rounds at a hospital."

"That's just what somebody else said. They didn't see him. Okay, maybe someone else didn't see it, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen," the mother said.

The alleged victim is now 10 years old. His mother tells ABC13 her son's story has never changed

"I still don't think it's fair that they won't retry him because of something their department did on their end. That's not fair to him because they dropped the ball," said the mother.

ABC13 reached out to Dr. Yetman's attorney several times for comment, but he didn't respond.

The alleged victim's family said they are considering civil action.

Report a typo to the ABC13 staff