This doctor raped a sedated patient in 2013. He won’t spend any time behind bars.

A Texas doctor raped a sedated woman stuck in a hospital bed back in 2013. But a jury has decided he won’t spend any time behind bars.

Shafeeq Sheikh was convicted of the attack, which took place at a Houston hospital, on Thursday. The next day, a jury sentenced him to 10 years of probation and a $10,000 suspended fine, as well as ordered to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, according to the Houston Chronicle.

The maximum penalty for second-degree sexaul assault is 20 years in prison, the Washington Post reported. Attorneys who’ve defended those accused of sexual misconduct told the Houston Chronicle that some of the jurors might still not be totally convinced of Sheikh’s guilt.

Police charged Sheikh for the rape in 2015, using DNA evidence taken from a rape kit as well as records that showed Sheikh accessed the victim’s floor 12 times the night of the attack. The victim, referred to only as “Laura” in a series of Houston Chronicle columns, was not Sheikh’s patient.

Laura told the Houston Chronicle in 2015 that a doctor approached her multiple times as she lay in a hospital bed, sedated by heavy drugs after an acute asthma attack. She said she pressed a call button to summon a nurse multiple times during the attack, but no one came.

The device later turned out to be unplugged, the Houston Chronicle reported.

"He abuses his authority, uses his power, easily enters, and without thinking twice, takes control over someone who is sick," Laura told local outlet KHOU11 in 2015. Laura said at the time that she believed there may be other victims: “I'm not only Laura; I represent lots of women, women who've been raped and mistreated.”

Sheikh — who was fired from his hospital job in 2014, according to ABC13, and later had his license reportedly revoked by the Texas Medical Board for being a “continuing threat to public welfare” — admitted to having sex with Laura. He maintained on the stand, however, that it was consensual, the Houston Chronicle reported. He testified that she initiated the encounter with body language and said he realized afterward that he’d broken both ethical rules and his marriage vows.

“It immediately sunk in that something terrible had happened, and I was scared for myself,” Sheikh testified, according to the Houston Chronicle. “You’re not supposed to have sex with a patient. That’s part of medical ethics.”

Laura told the Houston Chronicle after the sentencing that she had no comment on Sheikh’s sentencing.

Cover image: Dr. Shafeeq Sheikh awaits his sentencing at Harris County Family Law Center in Houston, on Friday, Aug. 17, 2018. (Yi-Chin Lee/Houston Chronicle via AP)