Appeals Court Overturns Conviction of UCLA Gynecologist Due to Trial Irregularity

In a significant development, a former UCLA gynecologist saw his sexual abuse conviction overturned by a California appeals court, which cited an unfair trial. The court, part of California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal, decided on Monday that James Heaps, who had received an 11-year prison sentence in 2023, did not receive a just trial due to the judge’s failure to disclose a note from the jury foreman. This note highlighted concerns over a juror’s proficiency in English, which could have impacted their ability to perform their duties effectively.

“Justice may have been delayed, but it has finally been served,” remarked Heaps’ lawyer, Leonard Levine, in a statement to The Associated Press. “I am confident that full exoneration is only a matter of time.”

Levine further mentioned that the defense team was unaware of the juror-related note or any doubts about the juror’s competency until two years later. This revelation came when an attorney working on the appeal unearthed the note from a court document.

James Heaps is seen in Los Angeles Superior Court on June 26, 2019. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times via AP)

James Heaps appears in Los Angeles Superior Court on June 26, 2019. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times via AP)

If the attorney had not seen it, “it still would have remained a secret, which is very unfortunate since it would have been a miscarriage of justice, but thankfully it’s been corrected,” Levine also said. 

Heaps, 69, was accused of sexually assaulting hundreds of patients during his 35-year career and UCLA made nearly $700 million in payouts over lawsuits connected to the allegations. 

UCLA patients said Heaps groped them, made suggestive comments or conducted unnecessarily invasive exams, the AP reported in 2023 at the time of his sentencing. Women who brought the lawsuits said the university ignored their complaints and deliberately concealed abuse that happened for decades during examinations at the UCLA student health center, the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center or in Heaps’ campus office.

James Heaps, center, appears in Los Angeles Superior Court where he was taken into custody after additional charges were filed against him on Aug. 3, 2020. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Heaps continued to practice until his retirement in June 2018. 

Heaps later pleaded not guilty to 21 felony counts in the sexual assaults of seven women between 2009 and 2018. He was convicted in October 2022 of three counts of sexual battery by fraud and two counts of sexual penetration of two patients. The jury found him not guilty of seven of the 21 counts and was deadlocked on the remaining charges. 

In the 31-page ruling issued Monday, the panel of justices pointed out that within about one hour of Juror No. 15 being seated as a substitute for a juror who had a medical issue, concerns were raised about whether the person was qualified to serve. The foreman’s note indicated that Juror No. 15 did not speak English well enough to participate in the deliberations, the ruling stated. 

Prosecutors have 30 days to appeal the ruling.    

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that, “Our office plans to retry the defendant as soon as possible.”

The panel stated that the problem was too grave to not order a retrial.

Attorney John Manly, who is joined by survivors and fellow attorneys representing more than 150 survivors of former UCLA gynecologist James Heaps in lawsuits against UCLA, announced a $243-million settlement during a press conference in Irvine, Calif., on Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2022. (Leonard Ortiz/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images)

“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 ruling stated. “The importance of the constitutional right to counsel at critical junctures in a criminal trial gives us no other choice.”