LOS ANGELES – A California appeals court on Monday upheld the conviction of an ex Campus gynecologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, on allegations of sexual harassment.
Appeals court upholds former UCLA gynecologist’s sexual assault convictionJames Heaps was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2023 for sexually abusing female patients.
The judgment ordered the case to be remanded for retrial. A three-judge panel of California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal denied Heaps a fair trial because his defense counsel was not made aware of a note expressing concern that a juror lacked sufficient English to perform their duties.
Heaps was accused of sexually abusing hundreds of patients during his 35-year career, and UCLA has paid out nearly $700 million in lawsuits linked to the allegations.
He pleaded not guilty to 21 felony counts of sexually assaulting seven women between 2009 and 2018. He was convicted in October 2022 of three counts of sexual battery by deception and two counts of sexual penetration of two patients. The jury found him not guilty on seven of the 21 counts and was deadlocked on the remaining charges.
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After his conviction and sentencing, a judge ruled that he could be retried on the racketeering charge.
In the 31-page ruling, the appeals court panel noted that concerns were raised about whether the man qualified to be a juror about an hour after replacing Juror No. 15. They also said the foreman wrote a note indicating that Juror No. 15 did not speak English well enough to participate in the deliberations.
“We recognize the burden on the trial court and, regrettably, on the witnesses, to require a retrial in a case involving multiple victims and to conduct intimate medical examinations,” the panel said in its ruling. “The importance of the constitutional right to counsel at the critical juncture of a criminal trial leaves us with no other choice.”
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