By Rose Gruenbacher
Chiropractor Clark Petersen’s trial began Wednesday morning in Riley County District Court, with opening statements from both sides and testimony from the state’s first witness.
Assistant Riley County attorney Michael Blackburn told the jury Petersen, a former Manhattan chiropractor with his own practice, violated the trust and vulnerability of 19 women who went to him for treatment. He said some of the victims were not just Petersen’s patients, but women with whom he had personal relationships.
Blackburn said Petersen used his position of power and control to sexually assault his victims without consent or prior warning and described some incidents as “energy work” and further called one rape a “root chakra adjustment.”
