BOSTON (WHDH) - Opening statements were shared Friday in the trial of a former medical assistant at Massachusetts General Hospital Back Bay HealthCare Center accused of sexually assaulting several teenagers.
Damien Knighton, 41, is facing charges of indecent assault and battery on four alleged victims over 14 years old. The four patients told Boston police they were sexually assaulted during physical exams at the healthcare center in 2022 and 2023.
“Patients regularly put themselves into vulnerable positions while at the doctor’s office, because they trust that the medical professionals they’re there seeing are there to help them,” prosecutor Rita Muse said. “This defendant, Damien Knighton, he weaponized that trust.”
Prosecutors said Knighton was employed as a medical assistant when a male patient first accused him of touching him inappropriately.
“Damien Knighton sexually assaulted [the patient] in that exam room over and over and over again. And [the patient] complied, because he thought he was a nurse. He thought he was there being honest with him, performing the exams that his doctor had requested,” Muse said.
The patient, who was not publicly named, testified he saw a doctor at the facility because of shoulder pain and high blood pressure. He testified that the lab took a blood sample and that Knighton asked him to stay for a follow-up exam.
He said Knighton had him strip naked and then assaulted him sexually. He said that after he left the exam room, it dawned on him that the doctor should’ve been the one performing tests.
“It just felt wrong… I started getting a little bit angry, getting a little bit annoyed. I started getting all emotional and things like that,” the patient said.
An MGH Back Bay receptionist, who said she was friendly with Knighton, testified that the patient came to the front desk and complained about the alleged assault.
“He started just kind of mumbling a little bit, and then proceeded to say, ‘He touched me, he touched me, that’s not normal,'” said Jennifer Guerriero-Morena, an MGH Back Bay patient coordinator.
The patient who took the stand Friday was cross-examined about a $2.2 million lawsuit he filed against MGH. The man testified he hopes the hospital has to “pay big.”
Knighton’s defense attorney, Steven Sack, maintained his client’s innocence. He said his client wore an ID clearly identifying him as a medical assistant, and claims the state’s evidence is thin.
“After you’ve heard all the evidence in this case, you’ll know that Damien Knighton didn’t indecently assault anybody at that clinic,” Sack said.
Knighton has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
“No video, no fingerprint, no forensic evidence, and no credible evidence is going to tell you that Damien Knighton indecently assaulted [the patient],” Sack said.
The three other alleged victims are slated to take the stand next week.
(Copyright (c) 2025 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)