Panel dismisses former UCLA doctor’s sexual abuse allegations; lawyers were not told about juror’s ‘limited English’
An appeals court on Monday overturned the conviction of a former UCLA gynecologist serving 11 years in prison for sexually abusing patients after ruling that the judge failed to inform his lawyers that other jurors had raised questions about the English proficiency of one of the panel members.
A three-judge panel of California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal has ordered that former celebrity cancer expert James Heaps, 69, be recalled for a new trial in cases involving two patients who were convicted of abuse.
In October 2022, after a complex two-month trial, Heaps was convicted of three counts of sexual forgery and two counts of sexual assault involving two patients. Jurors acquitted him of torturing two other patients and he died in cases involving four other patients. In April 2023, a judge sentenced him to 11 years in prison.
The University of California system paid nearly $700 million to settle lawsuits brought by hundreds of Heaps’ accusers.
John Manly, who represented more than 200 former patients in the lawsuit that led to the settlement with UCLA, said Heaps’ sentence change is “an indictment of California’s criminal justice system that allows criminals to threaten public safety and victims of the most vulnerable.”
“These brave survivors faced the ordeal of four years of prosecution and trial which resulted in them being sentenced to 11 years in prison for this monster,” he said. “Now they are being told they have to start over…. Our criminal justice system needs reforms that put victims first.”
During the jury’s verdict, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Carter, who presided over the case, sent a judge’s assistant, Luis Corrales, into the jury room to talk to the judge about a letter sent by the foreman explaining the jurors’ “collective concern” that Judge No.
Juror No. 15 had been one of the jurors, but on October 18 he took the position of Juror No. 8. Only an hour later, the judge sent a note, signed by the director. The note said, “We have seen that the language barrier with Juror [No.] 15 prevents us from speaking properly. The judge [No.] 15 could not understand the calls for a guilty or not guilty vote, and told us that his limited English interfered with his understanding of the testimony.”
The assistant juror spoke to the judge in English and, at the request of Juror No. 15, in Spanish. “At no time did the trial judge ask the jurors or inform the trial counsel of the existence of the letter,” the appeals panel said, adding that the conversations with the judge’s assistant were not recorded.
Heaps’ attorney was not notified of the note or communications, and the trial proceeded to a verdict.
Leonard Levine, Heaps’ trial attorney, in the appellate panel’s announcement, said that if he had been notified of the note, he would have wanted to find out if Juror No. 15 “is he fit to work” and investigated the juror’s limited English and the jurors’ opinion that Juror No. 15 “you have already been prepared.”
The Court of Appeals found that “the court’s handling of this paper deprives the defendant of his constitutional right to counsel at a critical time in his trial.”
“Failure to notify the lawyer of the judge’s letter and that of the judge’s assistant ex parte Communicating with jurors during deliberations amounted to a violation of the defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to counsel.” The panel of three judges noted that they did not test the judge’s English ability, rather, that was the same opinion of the other judges of the jury.
The appeals court found that the prosecution failed to meet its burden of showing, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the constitutional error was harmless. As a result, the panel vacated the conviction and remanded for a new trial.
“We recognize the burden on the trial court and, sadly, on the witnesses, by requiring a retrial in a case involving multiple victims and a review of the medical examination. The importance of the constitutional right to counsel in critical situations in the criminal trial gives us no other option,” Acting Presiding Judge Helen I. Bendix and J. in agreement.
The decision overturns Heaps’ convictions for sexual battery by fraud, felony jury findings involving separate acts of violence or threats of violence, two counts of sexual assault of an unconscious person by fraudulent representation and two counts of sexual battery by fraud. He is currently at the California Correctional Facility in Soledad.
