Former UCLA gynecologist's conviction overturned

Ex-UCLA gynecologist's conviction overturned

Former UCLA gynecologist James Mason Heaps' conviction was reversed and a retrial is now being ordered.

LOS ANGELES - A state appeals court panel reversed the conviction of a former UCLA campus gynecologist on sex-related charges involving two women.

Retrial ordered

What we know:

The three-justice panel from California's 2nd District Court of Appeal on Monday ordered the case against James Mason Heaps, now 69, to be sent back for retrial.

In a 31-page ruling, the appellate court panel noted that Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Carter sent his judicial assistant into the jury room twice to speak to the jury about the foreperson's note describing the jurors' collective concern that one of the jurors did not speak English sufficiently to deliberate and had already made up his mind, and that the judge did not inquire of the jury or inform the attorneys about the note's existence.

The appellate court justices found that the note raised a question of whether the juror had a sufficient command of English to perform his duties and that it is "undisputed, including by the trial judge, that the court did not inform counsel of the note and counsel had no opportunity to suggest questions to the judge" or to be heard whether the juror was qualified to remain on the panel.

"We recognize the burden on the trial court and regrettably, on the witnesses, in requiring retrial of a case involving multiple victims and delving into the conduct of intimate medical examinations. The importance of the constitutional right to counsel at critical junctures in a criminal trial gives us no other choice," Acting Presiding Justice Helen I. Bendix wrote on behalf of the panel, with Associate Justices Gregory J. Weingart and Michelle C. Kim concurring.

Heaps convicted and sentenced 

The backstory:

Heaps was sentenced in April 2023 to 11 years in state prison. He is behind bars at California's Correctional Training Facility in Soledad, according to state prison records.

He was convicted in October 2022 of three counts of sexual battery by fraud and two counts of sexual penetration of an unconscious person.

Jurors acquitted Heaps of charges involving two other patients, and deadlocked on the other nine counts that involve four alleged victims, including one of the women named in a count on which he was convicted.

Just before imposing the state prison sentence, the judge noted that he had received at least 75 character letters on the defendant's behalf, and said that Heaps was "by all accounts a world-renowned gynecologist specializing in oncology." He said the letters sent on behalf of Heaps were filled with stories about him saving the lives of his patients.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE:

• Ex-UCLA gynecologist James Mason Heaps could get a retrial
• Ex-UCLA gynecologist James Heaps sentenced to 11 years in prison for sex abuse
• Ex-UCLA gynecologist convicted of sex-related charges

"But this reputation also serves as an aggravating factor because it caused the victims in this case to entrust their bodies and lives to him," the judge said. "It was because of this reputation that he was able to take advantage of the vulnerable position that these victims were in."

The judge subsequently rejected the defense's bid to release Heaps on bail while he appealed his conviction.

Heaps was indicted in May 2021 on charges involving the seven female patients. He surrendered his medical license in March 2023.

Heaps -- who was ordered in 2019 to "cease and desist from the practice of medicine as a condition of bail" after he was first charged that year -- served as a gynecologist/oncologist, affiliated with UCLA, for nearly 35 years. At various times, he saw patients at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and at his office at 100 Medical Plaza.

Lawsuits filed against UCLA 

Dig deeper:

At one time, he was reportedly the highest paid physician in the UC system and had treated about 6,000 patients, attorneys said.

More than 500 lawsuits were filed against Heaps and UCLA, accusing the school of failing to protect patients after becoming aware of the misconduct.

In May 2022, attorneys for 312 former patients of Heaps announced a $374 million settlement of abuse lawsuits against the University of California.

The settlement came on top of a $243.6 million resolution of lawsuits involving about 200 patients announced in February 2022, and a $73 million settlement of federal lawsuits previously reached involving roughly 5,500 plaintiffs.

The lawsuits alleged that UCLA actively and deliberately concealed Heaps' sexual abuse of patients. UCLA continued to allow Heaps to have unfettered sexual access to female patients -- many of whom were cancer patients -- at the university, plaintiffs' attorneys alleged in the lawsuits.