Psychiatrist pleads no contest in sexual assault case

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — A Las Cruces psychiatrist could face years in prison after pleading no contest to charges accusing him of sexually assaulting female patients. A plea agreement recommends seven years in prison for Dr. Mark Beale. He pleaded no contest to a total of 16 counts of felony criminal sexual penetration, misdemeanor criminal sexual contact and petty misdemeanor battery. Beale said in court Tuesday that he didn’t want to give up the opportunity to defend himself, prompting the judge initially to say he’d reject the plea. But the judge then accepted it when Beale’s lawyer asked him to reconsider. Beale was arrested in 2019.