Judge OKs Retrial Of Ex-UCLA Campus Gynecologist

LOS ANGELES -- A judge today granted the prosecution's request to retry former UCLA campus gynecologist James Mason Heaps on nine remaining sex-related charges on which jurors deadlocked last year involving former patients.

Superior Court Judge Michael D. Carter denied a defense motion to dismiss the deadlocked counts against Heaps.

``So, when I look at this as a whole, I believe that all sides have a right to the finality of this case, and the only way that we're going to reach the finality is to have the jury review the counts that were hung and to retry those counts,'' the judge said.

Heaps is due back at the Burbank courthouse Nov. 13 for a hearing on an expected defense motion to delay his trial.

``We've now got to hire additional counsel,'' said Heaps' attorney, Tracy Green, who did not represent him during his first trial.

Heaps was sentenced in April to 11 years in state prison after being convicted in October 2022 of charges involving two women. He has remained behind bars since being taken into custody after the verdict, and appeared in court in orange jail clothes during Friday's hearing.

Green -- who objected to the deadlocked counts being retried -- told the judge there was no reason to believe that another jury would reach a verdict on those charges.

Heaps' attorney suggested the court could dismiss the counts without prejudice so the prosecution could bring those charges again if Heaps is successful in his pending appeal involving the counts on which he was convicted.

Deputy District Attorney Danette Meyers cited the ``serious nature of the case'' and told the judge ``the victims have a right to justice.''

The prosecutor said she didn't want another ``Tyndall situation here,'' referring to the case against former USC campus gynecologist George Tyndall, who died last month at age 76 while awaiting trial on charges stemming from alleged sexual misconduct with 16 patients.

Darren Kavinoky, an attorney representing three of the alleged victims in the case, told reporters outside court, ``We're certainly gratified with the court's ruling.''
``I think it's important to everyone involved, as the judge pointed out, that there be some real finality,'' he said.

Heaps was found guilty of three counts of sexual battery by fraud and two counts of sexual penetration of an unconscious person. Jurors acquitted him 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.

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

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.

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.

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